Asylum
by Gryphon97
Summary: It's been eleven years since the GIW captured ghost menace Danny Phantom. Eleven long and lonely years that have taken the very fabric of Phantom and unwound it. His mind, sadly, could not be saved. And quite possibly, neither can the future.
1. Chapter 1

** Hey guys! So i'm going to start off by saying that a lot of this is not going to be mine! Please don't go away and let me explain! This is a written adaption to the original fan comic posted on deviantART by The Alchemists Muse that has been discontinued. I've seen a few adaptions from this fan comic but none of them finished the story. I want to challenge myself to finish the story! So wish me luck! I'm going to aim to be consistent. Posting a chapter like once a month or week or every other week. I'm not sure what i'll have time for or want to do. It all depends on how much you guys enjoy it really. Because TAM(The Alchemists Muse) did not finish her fan comic, there is no ending. So I have resolved to finish it for her! I hope I don't screw up that wonderful piece of art. Anyway i'll tell you when she discontinued the story and when the story becomes my original work. If you want to read the comic, it's a really good comic(wonderfully drawn, written, and such) i've put a link to find the story. You can also find TAM's deviantART page too. I have not read the other fan fictions for this fan comic because I don't want to subconsciously steal their words, however I feel it necessary to give you the links to their stories. I searched to see if anyone had tried and when I saw they had I wanted to see if they had finished them. They have not finished theirs and it doesn't appear they will. But the link is there for you anyway. I personally plan on reading them when I finish this fanfiction. Tell me if they are good or better or what not. I mean you don't have to but if you care i'd like to know if i'm doing the fan comic justice or if I shouldn't even try. If you guys have any suggestions, concerns, questions, or what not either send me a message or post it in the comments and i'll get back to you. Reviews are** **good! Please and thank you! Most importantly I hope you enjoy the story! Less than three good readers! **

** Link to original fan comic page 1-2**: : art/Asylum-pages-1-2-42255315

**Link to The Alchemists Muse deviantART page**: #

**Link to other Asylum fan fictions:**

**story by A Musing Cat: ** s/3257071/1/Asylum

**story by theE eKLeKitK avrge JoE:** s/4611895/1/Asylum

Lunatics, psychotic, mental hospital, insane, mentally ill, loony bin, laughing academy, mad house, funny farm, padded cell, nut house, psychiatric ward, rubber room, mental home, mental health institution, bughouse, snake pit…mental….are you mental? Crazy. Are you crazy? Never! How could you be crazy? These white padded walls surrounding you, this straightjacket suffocating you, this laugher that echoes in your head, this isn't crazy.

You couldn't have gone insane. Who ever told you that you'd become mad? No. You didn't go crazy. You were never sane in the first place.

Asylum.

1) Noun: an institution for the care of people, especially those with physical and/or mental impairments (example being insanity), who require organized supervision or assistance.

2) the state of being safeguarded, particularly in a sanctuary.

**Chapter 1**

Light. He wasn't used to the light. No, it was always dark here. Always. So of course, he wasn't used to the light.

But now it spilled into his cell like milk and honey. Something so delectable he could almost taste it once again. The outside in small fragments of light inside his cell.

Then the sound. The door was opening, slowly, and footsteps followed. A change from the echoing silence that became so loud to him at first it shattered his eardrums. The dead silence that rang so loud it drowned out his own thoughts. Indeed, he was not used to the sound of someone else breathing.

He sat there on the floor. His legs spread out in front of him. The light ever so subtlety making its way in and the breathing and the footsteps following after.

"Huh?" He stated his confusion. A visitor? Drowsily he picked up his head and glanced at the visitor. "Are you…here to forgive me and get me out?" He asked. "Or did you come to rip me apart in vengeance?" He almost smiled in spite of it. "Valerie Gray."

The young ghost hunter glared at her former rival. He seemed stiff. He shrank from her, something she wasn't used to seeing. He was afraid.

She thought she would've liked seeing him in a cell. But elven years changed the phantom and not for the better. He hadn't had a decent hair cut in awhile. The white hair hung in his ghastly pale face and slightly shielded his sharp, green eyes. His body seemed so very frail. The straightjacket binding him made him look even weaker than his already pathetic state.

It was sickening.

But she was there for a reason. And no matter what she needed to get the job done. It was just Danny Phantom. A restrained ghost drained of his power.

She shut down her gear, transforming back into her civilian clothes. "None of the above ghost. Today is your lucky day." She said. Immediately he perked up. She saw his shoulders fall, his tense body beginning to relax. His eyes remained alert on her, he was being cautious even now, even when he could do absolutely nothing. "I have some questions and my employer informed me that you have the answers I need." She explained. She brushed off a little dust from her shoulder. Her eyes trained on him, she felt the darkness rising in her. She hated him. With every fiber of her being she loathed this ghost. "I need you in one piece for that."

"That's great! In that case, I'm really, really glad to see you!" The ghost exclaimed.

Valerie was caught off guard. "Huh?" She asked aloud, not meaning to. But it was suck a shock. His personality changed in seconds. He went from a tense and cautious prisoner to-to-to…. What? An old friend? It wasn't like they hung out together! They were enemies! What was with this friendly smile and happy eyes?

Phantom relaxed his body against the padded walls. "I mean, it's not like there are a ton of people to talk to around here, and I can't exactly go looking for someone to have a conversation with," he said. "So, really, I'd be happy to see just about anyone. But I'm real glad it's a friend." He offered a genuine smile.

Valerie was off her guard. She immediate tensed up her shoulders. "Friend? What the hell are you talking about?"

He gave her a tired look. She saw the eleven years look like fifty in his eyes. "You're my friend, and I'm yours. We used to play a game together all the time." He said. "You made it up and started it. We'd play, but I was the only one you ever played with."

He cringed a bit and suddenly changed all together. That smile was back. "I was glad when you started hanging out with other people too, though." He said. "Like that Star girl and Sam and-"

Valerie kicked Phantom's head right into the ground. As usual, she didn't hold back. Phantom felt his head spin in all different directions.

"Uhhh…what did you do that for?" He asked weakly.

"Don't you dare speak of things in which you had no involvement and act like you were part of it." she spat. Her eyes glaring at him on the ground. It was like kicking a sick puppy. And she always hated dogs.

"No," Phantom started to say, as he slowly began sitting back up and leaning against the wall, "involvement?"

Valerie watched as the ghost looked at the ground. A solemn look. One of many years of pain. Then she heard a chuckle. Softly at first but it grew louder and louder. Suddenly Phantom was in a laughing fit. And somewhere inside it frightened her.

_What's wrong with him? He's acting insane!_

She expected Phantom to be changed after spending eleven years in a GIW facility building. But she didn't expect him to be so strange. She didn't like this and she didn't like him.

"Haha..heh…right. No involvement." He agreed, giving her his best smile. She rolled her eyes. Phantom was annoying as ever, at least that hadn't changed. "Sooooo," he sang. "You wanted to ask me something?"

"Uh..yes." She said, momentarily forgetting her purpose for being there. "Yeah, I did." She already regretted her decision to go. How exactly had Mr. Masters convinced her to visit the menace in the first place? "You," She saw Phantom practically lean closer to her, hanging on her every word. She shivered. She really, really, REALLY hated him. She scoffed. "Did you ever hear of a ghost named Clockwork?"

He changed again. What was this? Did he like making her pissed? His body shivered and his eyes became that of a frightened child. "C-Clockwork?" He asked. "Ah..I-I ca- I don't" He paused, sitting there.

She growled. He knew something. But he wasn't going to just tell her. She had to get the information another way. "Hmph. Fine. Don't answer. I'll just go." She threated. "See you never."  
She began walking away and Phantom heard her mutter under her breath, "What a waste of my time."

"Ah! W-wait! H-hey! Don't leave!" He begged. "Ah..Where did you hear that name. Clock, um-"

Valerie didn't flinch. She didn't look at the Phantom ghost behind her. "Not that I pay attention or anything," she began, "But a few of my targets have been muttering that name."

Phantom lowered his head. He began thinking aloud. When you are locked away for eleven years you tend to talk to the nearest person even if that person is yourself. After a few years it can become a habit. "Wha..why would a random ghost be talking about Clock…that guy?"

"Ha!" Valerie yelled, turning on her heels. She pointed at Phantom. "So you **do **know something!" She grabbed a fistful of Phantom's uniform and pulled his body up off the floor. "Spill it, ghost."

Phantom gave a nervous smile. "Um..he's..well..um-" She searched his eyes. She was finally going to get what she came for. "What do you want me to say?"

Valarie dropped Phantom, but he didn't falter. He gave her an honest look, something that made her stomach lurch.

"Cloc-that ghost- is different things to different people." He explained. "A rescuer, an imprisoner, an employer-"

"Right, so what is he to you?" She asked. Valerie watched as Phantom finally pulled himself off the floor. He gave her a sober look. "To me?"

Phantom tilted his head down. He looked so very tired. It wasn't like she cared; she just didn't want his melodrama to waste her time.

"All of that." His head looked up at the dim light in his cell. Ever so often it flickered. It had a rhythm to it.

Phantom noticed after a few years that everything had a rhythm to it. It was if the world depended on it. It swayed and breathed and lived to an unshaken pattern of sounds.

"My teacher, surrogate parent," he paused. The light flickered again. Valerie watched the years pass by second after pain staking second in Phantom's eyes. She didn't really notice before until she really looked at him. He wasn't just in a straightjacket, his entire body had binds all over it. She cringed_. Phantom must be even more powerful than I thought. Or rather, used to be_.

Phantom watched the time pass by as he always did. "And if need be, my executioner." He said.

He finally looked at her with a half smile. She blankly stared at him for a moment before reaching down. Phantom curiously watched as Valerie took off her boot before throwing it in the ghost's face.

"You're a pain in the butt, you know that?!" She scowled at him. Phantom felt his head spin as he gave her an innocent look. "I mean, don't you ever talk in complete paragraphs instead of fragments?!" She complained.

Phantom gave her the same look a child gives an adult when they don't know what they've done wrong. "That's it. Im out of here." She said and stormed out.

Phantom heard the sound of the door slamming behind her. He watched the door, waiting for her to come back. _Any second now,_ he thought.

The door slightly opened and Valerie peeped out and glared at him. She snatched back her shoe and disappeared into the world behind the door.

Phantom smiled and sighed. "Ah well." He said. "Maybe I was just hallucinating again. All she did was kick me and throw her boot at me. The Valarie I knew wouldn't have done anything less than vaporize me.." He began to get lost in his mind again. No involvement? Oh, the past. "Still wouldn't mind seeing her again though.

"But," Phantom shrank down; he felt his head throbbing. "Ooowww! My head hurts!" He said. "Awfully solid hallucination."

Valerie Gray walked through the halls of the GIW facility building. To her it was more like an insane asylum. Padded walls, cells, and that eerie feeling. It reminded her of something out of a horror flick. She hadn't seen a horror movie in a long time. She hadn't seen any movie in a good long while. She missed a lot of things form the past.

It seems the capture of the ghost Phantom was the climatic moment of her life. There was the before and now here is the after. To be perfectly honest things were going a lot better for her in the before part.

Phantom was the one person she hated the most. He knew exactly what to do or what to say to push her buttons and not in the cute way. The annoying way. Still, he was an odd one.

Did he used to stalk her or something? He knew about Star and about Sam…Sam….she hadn't seen her in awhile. Not after it happened.

Danny Fenton. She always had the biggest crush on him. He was only seventeen, just a kid like her and Sam and Star- just a stupid, stupid kid.

That day was supposed to be the best day ever. She always knew he liked Sam and that Sam liked him. But he also liked Paulina too. In truth, he was a boy so he liked just about every girl he saw. But somehow he and Sam began to drift and she and Danny hung out more and more.

That one day he finally asked her out on a date. Then Phantom was somehow captured that day. She thought it was going to be the best day of her life. Her life long enemy was going away and her crush was becoming her boyfriend. But that night she thought he'd blown her off.

She waited for him outside the restaurant for a good twenty minutes when she finally went inside by herself and sat down. One hour, then two, then five…she waited and waited and waited….then the restaurant closed for the night and she walked home by herself in the dark.

Valerie had already planned it out. She promised herself she wouldn't cry, she did enough of that last night. She was going to walk into the cafeteria like she owned the place and she was going to slap him as hard as she could and embarrass him in front of everybody. No mercy. No one messes with her heart.

But he wasn't at school that day. Or the next or the next. Then she saw it on the news. Danny Fenton had gone missing and she hasn't seen him since.

Valerie clenched her fist. He may not have been perfect, but he was perfect for her, right? So why did Phantom take him away? Why did he always take everything she loved away from her?!

She picked up her bag and began searching for her cellphone. She's twenty eight now. Valerie Gray was a big girl, and big girls suck it up and vaporize ghosts or something like that. She dug for her phone. She had to call Mr. Masters and tell her the trip was a bust.

"Why did you deactivate your battle suit?" A voice said.

Valerie almost hit the wall. She quickly turned around to see Mr. K and Mr. O, GIW Operatives. God, she hated GIW Operatives. They sneak up on her all the time and quite frankly are very annoying and very secretive. The only reason she could even go into Phantom's cell was because her employer funded the place.

"Miss. Gray?" They asked simultaneously. She shivered a bit. _They all seem like robots. _

"Phantom was nervous for as long as I wore it." She explained. Valerie slung her backpack over her shoulder. "He only relaxed once he felt I was unarmed. And why should it matter? You think he would've attacked me or escaped? Didn't you say his restraints drain him to the point he barley has strength the stand?" She gave them a cold glare. "Well? Didn't you?"

"Did you obtain the information you wanted?" One of them asked. This is why she hated GIW Operatives.

"Hey! Don't change the subject." She said.

"Did you obtain the information?" The other asked as if she hadn't said anything. Valerie sighed. Ah well, it couldn't be helped.

"No." She said. "He started freaking out when I brought up the name 'Clockwork'. He pretty much clammed right up."

"Ah, so you found another one of his 'triggers'?" Another voice asked from behind her.

Valerie felt herself jump again. "Geez, what's with the sneaking up on people-" She stopped when she saw who the voice belonged to.

"Long time no see, Valerie. Hey guys, can I escort our guest as she leaves?" He asked. The man had almond eyes and a lab coat. He still had strong shoulders but had slimmed up in size since she last saw him.

"Permission granted." Operative K said and they left.

"Kwan? What are you doing here?" She asked.

Her friend smiled. "Oh! I'm a psychologist specializing in ectobiology."

"So you're a ghost shrink?" She asked.

"Er, sure. Close enough." Kwan and Valerie began walking through the halls. "In any case, how did Phantom react to your presence after you deactivated your battle suit?"

Valerie wrinkled her nose. "Well..uh he.. uhh…he acted happy. Almost like he was glad to see me." She said.

Kwan was surprised. "He did?" Valerie nodded. Kwan turned and rubbed his chin. "Bizarre. That makes two." He muttered.

"Okay, I understand bizarre but what do you mean by 'two'" She asked.

Kwan kept his hand on his chin. "Phantom normally acts almost feral when he responds at all. Most of the time he just seems to be in a stupor." He noticed Valerie's wide eyes and smiled. "But now it seems there are two people he is happy to see and becomes humanlike around." Kwan explained. "Those people are you," his grin almost became to wide for his face, "and me."

They reached the end of the hallway where the entrance to the facility was. Valerie noticed the car wasn't waiting for her. _Tch. Typical._

"Okay," Valerie said, almost creeped out. It was almost as if Phantom knew her personally. And now Kwan? Who did this ghost think he was? "So what does that mean?"

He snickered and shrugged his shoulders. "No clue!" He said. "Only that it seems only you and I are the only ones who can talk to Phantom. And only for a little while at that." He claimed.

Valerie's ears perked up. She noticed that Phantom had seemed off. Odd, she remembered that ghost loved to hear himself talk. "Why's that?" She asked.

"He freaks." Kwan explained. "Hears the wrong word and clams up. Sometimes the word, his 'trigger', is common and simple. I think the term 'left arm' set him off once. Sometimes it isn't, though. There were a couple of times where he actually had hallucinations induced by the trigger being used."

"Wait, wait, wait! He HALLICINATES?!" Valarie asked. Damn them! Yet another reason she hated GIW Operatives. They didn't tell her a damn thing!

"They really didn't tell you about Phantom's mental state at all?" Kwan asked, a bored look on his face. He was treating this as if it were a normal thing!

Still, it was Phantom and she knew he had to be crazy. She just wished those GIW Operatives told her first. Valerie noticed that her ride has still yet to arrive and pulled out one of the chairs in the waiting lobby and sat down. "What's to know?" She asked.

"Phantom has been diagnosed by myself and others of having no less than two psychological disorders." He explained. "He has been diagnosed with chronic insomnia, hysteria, oneirophrenia," Kwan said. Valerie's eyes widened. Phantom was this messed up? ", and a minor from of schizophrenia."


	2. Chapter 2

** Hey again! Thank you readers, followers, reviewers, and fanfictioners for reading Asylum! I hope you will continue reading the story as it goes along its journey. This chapter is from pages 21-40 on Asylum by The Alchemists Muse. Of course parts of this are my work I've added to help the story flow and move about and add a vibe to it. *****Bows********* Please enjoy. ****Now! For those of you who had questions!**

** MsFrizzle- Thank you for your review! ****Asylum is actually a fan comic written by The Alchemists Muse on deviantART. But sadly she discontinued it. This is a written adaption and I'm going to finish her story. The first chapter I wrote is based off pages 1-20 of Asylum on the Alchemists Muse deviantART page. She only wrote two chapters of it. I will tell you when she discontinued the comic and I begin to start the original Asylum story. I have thrown in my interpretations in there as well as modified a few things to fit my style and help the story flow as well. If you have any more questions feel free to ask!**

**Reptainlove- Thanks so much! You make me blush! / And I'll do my best to add more detail to the story! And German? That's so cool! I find it amazing you can speak/write so well in both languages! Please enjoy the rest of the story and thanks again for the review! **

**Thank you, yes you, the person reading this story! Read and REVIEW good people! I love reading your comments! Of course, as always, either send me a message or in the reviews post me any questions, concerns, or what have you! I LOVE it! . Thanks again! I love you all! I hope you enjoy the next chapter of Asylum! **

Row, row, row your boat.

There is a soft voice, almost eerie, like a lake by an abandoned camp. Nostalgic, foggy, cold, empty-

Gently down the stream.

It's a small child's voice. A little girl is singing. She is the Mary. Her voice is so high and so sweet. He hears her. The Phantom hears her singing.

Merrily, Merrily, merrily, merrily

She's tying a knot in the rope. Her blue eyes are fogged glass. She's standing on the edge. He's watching her; he's screaming. The Phantom knows what is coming next. He's seen it before.

Life is but a dream.

Swing, Mary, swing.

**Chapter 2**

Valerie Gray was used to ghosts. She was used to secrets. She was used to creeps and psychos. But this was a different story. This was Phantom. More importantly it was her life. And they'd let her put it on the line without her knowledge. Valerie Gray was an employee, which meant she was hired to do a job. She didn't tolerate being used.

"You people sent me into a hysterical, schizophrenic, insomniac ghost's cell without warning me of his condition first?!" She screamed. Valerie glared at Operatives K and O.

Normally GIW Operatives maintain a solid face, but Valerie had always had a talent for breaking that solid face.

Operative K flinched, spilling his coffee a little. Operative O stiffened his shoulders, trying to maintain his composure. But Miss Gray was not happy. And when she's not happy no one is happy.

She grabbed Operative K by his shirt and glared him down. Before she could say anything, Kwan attempted to smooth over the situation. But Kwan was never a smooth talker.

"Um, he also has oreniphrenia, which causes persons affected by it to have a feeling of constant dream-like unreality which, in extreme forms, may cause delusions and hallucinations." Kwan said. "It's a schizophrenia-like acute form of psychosis-"

"I don't care if it means he farts fireballs," Valerie said, glaring at Kwan. "Why didn't anyone tell me?!" She yelled, shaking the agent in her grip.

"W-we were not informed you were unaware of Phantom's psychological ailments!" Operative K said desperately, choking on his shirt collar.

Kwan grabbed Valerie's shoulder and began escorting her away from the Operative. "Yes, yes," he said. "Come on, Valerie, they wont make that mistake again." He promised.

Valerie gave the agents one last cold glare and then shrugged off Kwan. "The receptionist just told me your driver is here." Kwan said, kindly pushing Valeria out the door.

It was one of those spinning doors. Valerie used to love them when she was a kid. She and her father used to spin in them for several minutes before entering or existing the building.

Sunlight hit her eyes and she squinted a bit. The driver opened the back seat door to one of Vlad Master's many cars. Halfway in, Valerie looked back at Kwan.

"Sorry you didn't find out what you wanted." He said. "Give me a ring if you need anymore access to our facility."

"Okay. Thanks, Kwan. See you around." Valerie said and the driver closed her car door. The long, black vehicle drove out past the gates. Kwan waves goodbye with a sober smile on his face.

_You haven't changed a bit have you, Val? _He stopped waving and sighed. "Why didn't I just take her to that dance back then?"

_Insanity. That's what this is. Phantom's in the loony bin for ghosts and I didn't even realize it. But when did he go crazy? And what…what did they do to him in there?_

Valerie Gray was pondering the Phantom case she'd closed eleven years ago. She thought he was someone else's problem. But somewhere inside her she didn't want him to be someone else's problem.

It wasn't like she was attached to the ghost kid or anything. It was her job to deal with Phantom. Her job. Not someone else's. She didn't need anybody screwing it up.

Her phone buzzed. Mr. Masters! She forgot! She quickly answered it. "Hello? Mr. Masters?" She asked. "Yeah, I was trying to find out more…I managed to talk to Phantom but-…huh? You were the one who said-…Yeah, of course I knew where to find him. Didn't you?" Valerie paused. So the GIW kept secrets from everybody, eh? Even someone like Vlad Masters? "Sir, aren't you funding that facility? How is it you weren't aware Phantom is- Oh? Yeah, yes sir. I'll get right on it." The other line hung up before Valerie could take the phone away from her ear.

She stared at the phone. Someone else's problem indeed. It looks as if her job of babysitting Phantom wasn't over yet. But this phone call, and Phantom's condition, and basically this whole day. It was….unsettling. "Weird." She said.

Quiet.

It was quiet in the Phantom's cell. A dead silence.

He didn't like the peace and quiet. Phantom hated the peace and quiet. It cut through the air like a knife and slowly cut away at his ears.

Phantom hated seeing these things. He didn't like hallucinating. Of course, he figured you weren't supposed to like being crazy anyway.

_It's quiet…Everything…it all feels so vague…I feel dizzy…_

_ "_Danny.." A voice called. A sweet voice, something he missed dearly.

_Wait- that voice! Is it? That's-_

"Danny…look…" It called, like a coo, like a temptation.

Phantom frantically turned around, elated with joy. "Mom! M-" he felt his voice get swallowed in his throat. _ can't be-_

Drip….drip….drip….

The rhythm. There was always a rhythm. The dripping, the sound, the pattern, the crimson fall. The blood-

"Oh, sweetie.." She said. "Look at what you've done to me." Blood poured over her body. The stench make Phantom gag. When she opened her mouth the gurgle of her choking on her own blood made the liquid flow out from her lips all over her chest. "Danny…why?" She asked.

Phantom backed away, trying to escape the fear. Trying not to throw up, he held it in. His stomach was tuning. He felt sick.

"N-no! I d-didn't" He screeched. "No, no, no! Go away!" He demanded. His body was shivering. "Please…go away…oh God, please disappear." He whispered.

_I don't want to see._

_ Please._

_ Disappear_

_ I don't want to see._

_ Please disappear. _

_ I don't want to see. _

_ PLEASE! Please just disappear._

_ I don't want to see, I don't want to see, I don't want to see, I don't want to see-_

_ Please-_

_ Just disappear. _

Silence. He heard the silence. Was it? Was it gone. He rolled one eye to the corner, just to peak. Just to make sure.

"All your fault, Danny." She said.

Oh, God. The smell. He felt a warm drizzle of blood drop on his cheeks, slowly making its way to his lips.

Phantom frantically tried escaping to the other side of his cell and tripped over himself. He screamed in agony. This…this was true hell.

"AAAAGGGGHHHHHH! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Suddenly a sharp and quick pain entered his neck. He felt a strong arm hold his head in place while an iridescent purple liquid was being injected into his body.

He didn't fight. He let himself be overtaken by the world swirling about around him. His brain was no longer listening to him. He had no control. His body was limp. His eyelids were heavy. He felt numb and slow and idiotic.

Down the Phantom fell where only the ground was there to greet him.

London bridge is falling down-

_Fire. It burns. The world is on fire. _

Falling down, falling down-

_Why? Oh, God, why? What have I done?_

London bridge is falling down-

_Don't die, don't die, don't die, don't die-_

My fair lady.

A shrill sound came in echos. Closer, closer, closer, closer

Shriller, shriller, shriller,

….Don't look up….don't go in the dark…..don't do it…don't do it..

Don't look up.

Supervisor Mr. Marshall watched as the Phantom fell down to the ground. He hated ghosts. He hated them all. I'd taken years to capture this one. This one was a rare specimen.

His philosophy was all ghosts deserve to be slaughtered. But then the activists would go nuts over that. So they had to lock up some of them.

He didn't understand the scientists who went absolutely gaga over them. Especially this one.

"He's special, indeed!"  
"I've never seen a ghost age!"

"Get me a sample of the brain, I want it!"

"More tests."

"Extract more blood. Do it now!"

"Who cares if it screams?"

"If he's moving around so much then just restrain him!"

"Kill him? He's already dead!"

Marshall got a chill. Even he knew some of them were sick. He knelt down by the ghost. Eleven years. He'd watched this ghost 'grow up' and yet felt no sentimentality towards him. Him? No. Phantom was an 'it'.

He suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye something disturbing. He scowled. This creature. This it. Phantom's beginning to break free of his restraints. He saw a single strap broken there in the cracked darkness.

Kwan hated it. The scientists talking about Phantom like he was a science project, like he was an experiment. They were part of the reason Phantom had so many psychological disorders.

He didn't care for Phantom personally, but he didn't hate him. But Dash sure loved him. He really admired Phantom. He hadn't been too excited when he learned his best friend was working in the place that tortured his hero. He called it cruel. He called him cruel. They hadn't talked in years.

None the less, Kwan didn't hate Phantom. But he couldn't pity him either. Still, something about him was familiar. Something about Phantom made him remember things he'd thought were in the past. In a way, he did like the Phantom.

Phantom hazily watched as the Supervisor made his way to the door of his cell. The image of his mother disappeared. Finally.

He closed his eyes. _Good…..riddance.._

Mr. Marshall walked out of the cell to see the operatives and agents waiting for him. "Has the lab reported whether or not the new ectodraining restraints are finished yet?" He asked.

"We haven't heard, Supervisor Marshall." One of them said.

He furrowed his brow. "Well, find out!" He ordered. Seeing Phantom's broken strap meant the need for the new restraints just became urgent. God knows what could happen if Phantom broke free.

"Uh..sir?" Kwan spoke up.

'We'll try to get things to hurry up." One of the operatives said, ignoring Kwan. "But, sir, it might not be a good idea to make it a 'rush job'.'"

"Uh..Supervisor?" Kwan tried again.

"Well try anyway." Marshall said.

Kwan felt the heat rise in his cheeks. _I may not be an agent, but I deserve to be treated like I exist! _"Sir! Excuse me!" He said louder.

"What is it, Dr. Li?" He finally asked.

"Those new restraints were finished two weeks ago." He said impatiently. He'd been a part of that team and filed it himself. He never got recognition around here, though. Ever since Agents K and O caught a lucky break by being part of the team that apprehended Phantom, they've been Supervisor Marshall's lapdogs. While Kwan, well, he was just a young scientist, a brilliant one, but a young one. "It will only take a few minutes to get one."

"Very good." He said. Marshall tossed the syringe he'd poked Phantom with at Kwan. "Hold this while I retrieve one."

Kwan struggled to keep hold of it without dropping it or God forbid stab himself with it. There was no telling what would happen if he mixed his human blood with Phantom's ghost blood.

O interjected. "Sir, wait! We're going to change Phantom's restraints now?!" He asked. "Isn't that rather dangerous?"

"Oh? Well think about this." Marshall said. "He's begun to break his current restraints. One of the major straps have already snapped in half."

The operatives looked at each other. "That is…unsettling." K said.

"What a monster." O agreed.

"If that's the case," Kwan said, "We should probably change them now while Phantom is sedated."

The Supervisor nodded and looked at K and O. "Well? GO GET THOSE RESTRAINTS!" He barked.

They scrambled around and frantically ran off down the hall. "Yes, sir!" They said.

"Dr. Li," Marshall said turning to Kwan who jumped a bit at hearing his name. "Go get another tranquilizer and an ecto-pistol you can handle."

"Sir? What for?" He asked.

"You're coming with us." He explained. "As a precautionary backup.

It'd been several minutes since the order for the new restraints and Dr. Li felt his boy buzzing. His heart was beating a million beats a second, he was sweating vigorously, his body was shaking and his knees were weak. The ecto-pistol in his hands couldn't ever hope to shoot a target by the way he was shaking it.

Operative K noticed his shaking. For a moment he himself felt a tad fear. After all, Dr. Li spoke to Phantom more than any one else had. Why was he so afraid? "Dr. Li, you've spoken with Phantom before, haven't you?" He asked. "So why are you so nervous?

"Y-yeah, I have. But he's always had the ectodraining restraints! This is a bit different." Kwan admitted.

"In we go." Marshall said and slowly Operative O opened the door. A white haired mess was lying on the floor. Utterly still. For a moment Kwan wondered if he was still breathing. Forgive his pun, but he looked dead.

Phantom was always pale, ghastly pale. His face was thin and his body looked sort of fragile and weak. In this state, a normal person would be dead. But Phantom was far from normal.

"Agents 22A and 22B, hold the ghost up." Supervisor Marshall commanded. "Dr. Li, be ready with the ecto-pistol and the sedative in case we need them."

"Yes, sir!" The agents said.

"Y-yes, s-sir!" Kwan said as he nervously held the gun at Phantom's head.

The agents waited for the command, holding Phantom steady. Marshall glared at the boy until he confirmed it. He nodded to himself. Phantom was out cold.

"Alright then." He said. And switched off the ectodraining suit, ready to be exchanged for the newer one.

They worked quickly. The less time they were in there, the better. Slowly they unstrapped Phantom from his straightjacket. They noticed that the major strap wasn't the only one that'd been torn. Many of the straps were coming undone.

Finally Phantom's body was freed. His arms limply fell. They looked so weak. Yet, his body was odd. He looked thin, yes, but he looked strong. Phantom still had strength, lots of strength. It seems the ectodraining restraint only did so much.

Both the operatives felt sweat down their brow. Marshall opened he case for the new restraints. These would be stronger.

Kwan couldn't help it. He felt so uneasy. He'd been in this cell before. But he never liked it. No one could. It was cold, dark, and something felt oddly….off. Anyone would go insane. He felt himself losing it just by being in there.

The straps were tightly bound to Phantom's body. He heard the last snap and Kwan finally relaxed.

"Good." Marshall said. "It seems we were lucky." He almost chuckled. "I was a little worried his immunity to tranquilizers would kick in, but it didn't so…"He shrugged. He began to walk out the cell, the other agents following. The cell door shut behind them.

"Huh…wow…" Kwan relaxed his grip on the ecto-pistol. His hands began to throb. He realized he'd been holding the gun very tightly, and now the blood was rushing back to his hands again. He didn't take his eyes of Phantom. "…nothing." He noticed the ghost's shoulders ever so lightly shift. "EH?!"

Phantom rose his head. He looked drowsy, as if the tranquilizer just made him a little sleepy. But-but? A tranq of that strength could knock out an elephant if not kill it! How did this-this ghost? How!?

"So," He asked. He licked his dry lips and looked up at the Supervisor. "Is that all you guys came for?"

Kwan took a step back, aiming the pistol again. "N-no w-way! You. You weren't actually _conscious _that whole time?!"

A light went off in Phantom's eye, as if he'd just solved a puzzle. "Ooaahhh….that stuff was supposed to knock me out?" He asked softly, like a young child. "Oops."

He'd said it as if he were genuinely sorry. Like a drunkard who'd broken something but he was your best friend so you say "I never liked that vase anyway." Even though it was a present and a nice one at that, but he's your best friend and he's drunk because his life is hell and he looks you in the eye and says "sorry". So you have to forgive him. You have to.

Kwan lowered his gun. He was still in wide unbelievable shock. "B-but how long did that tranquilizer work for?!"

Phantom's child-like state dissolved into a dark aura. He looked Kwan straight in the eye, almost as if he were angry at him. Almost as if Kwan had done something and he was about to say "I will never forgive you."

Phantom spoke. "Didn't you hear me?" He said, ever so clearly. "It never worked. Insomnia, remember? I _can_'t sleep…Not ever."

_ "I can't sleep...Not ever." _What Phantom said had been ringing in his ears for hours. Kwan Li was staying late that night.

It was quiet and it was dark and he was, for the most part, alone. Most of the scientists had gone home. Only agents stay 24/7. That's because they know how to use guns.

He was working at his desk across from the lab. He'd been watching a computer screen for hours. _Insomnia…_his internet searches were getting him almost no where. It was time to dig deeper. _If Phantom were human, it could be considered the cause of his other illnesses…._He tapped the mouse, thinking hard. _But since he's a ghost…And I don't actually know when the insomnia set in…_He clicked the mouse, bringing up the page he wanted to see. Phantom's records. _What does the Record Department say? _

Kwan stood up and leaned in closer to the computer. Wait? Was he reading this right! No. Impossible! He read and re-read and re-re-read but his tired eyes were not playing tricks. "Wha…What the hell?!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you, thank you, thank you soooo much! You guys rock! I hope you've enjoyed the story so far! This chapter will be based off pages 41-68 of Asylum by The Alchemists Muse. Most of this story is Danny having a flashback. Also I have changed POV for this chapter. Only this chapter. I thought about switching back to third person but it didn't do it justice. The regular font is present Danny and the italics are his past self. Hopefully this chapter will shed light on some questions! Speaking of questions here are some of the answers for you guys left in the reviews! **

** NerdyWriterGirl- Thanks! I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far! I don't mind cirques at all so if you're missing something or wanting something of me in my writing feel free to speak up! Thanks again for the review! **

** kuro-okami13- I will do my best! I shan't abandon this! Thank you!**

** MrsFrizzle- Thank you so much for the critique! It really helps me be a better writer to know what readers are looking for and i'll definitely try my best to improve. Also, i'm glad you mentioned that! I put suspense as part of the genre hoping readers would know not everything is going to be explained up front. But I also want to make sure i'm not getting ahead of myself. But don't worry! As for the transition I had actual breaking points to separate pages of the story but they haven't seemed to carry over into the finial publication. Those questions will be answered in the future! Thank you very much! **

** Reptainlove- Thanks for not spoiling! That reminds me, anyone who does want to ask spoilable questions please just send me a message so other readers won't be disappointed. And IKR! Sometimes I feel insane while writing this! LET LOOSE ALL YOUR SANITY AT CIRCUS GOTHICIA! Oops wrong setting XP Thanks for the review!**

**I hope you all continue to read Asylum! R&R please! Enjoy the next chapter! Oh, and don't die. Muhahahahaha! :D**

Ring-a-round the rosie…

"The bodies have piled up greatly, sir." A young man's voice, British, he spoke. "Barley 'nough room for the livin' 'nymore."

A pocketful of posies….

The roses scattered all over the plague filled bodies….the smell….God.. anything to keep away the smell….

Ashes, ashes….

Fire. Every last one must burn. Worse than the smell of death. The cooking of human flesh. It causes bile to rise in their throats.

We all fall down.

…. tick…..tok….tick….tok….tick….tok….hear that? It's the sound of your heart beating… tick-tick-tick…..

Well, it was.

**CHAPTER 3**

I wasn't scared of it. Not at first.

And _He _didn't scare me…not really. I knew he was just another ghost to defeat.

But the nightmares started to get worse.

_"AAAGGGHHH!" Frantically I flopped around like a fish out of water. I felt the fabric of my bed sheets and began to calm myself. I was gasping for air. My heart was slowing back down. I sat up and knew where I was._

_ My room. I was in my room. Again. I was always just in my room. Always._

_ But that didn't stop the fear._

_ It didn't keep him, me, the other me, from haunting my sleepless nights. Dan.. he was always with me. He was me. Or rather he would be. _

_ "It was just…" I buried my head in my knees, curling up against myself. "It was just another dream." _

I was only fourteen. But I'd seen what no one ever should have to see. I had seen time. I had seen the future. And it was eating away at my mind.

After I had those dreams, I wouldn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night.

It seemed I was getting less and less sleep. And that began taking its toll on my mind…and my body.

_"Danny? Yo, Danny!" It was Tucker. I knew it was him. But the blurred image of him made my brain hesitate. _

_ It was like a reflection in water and throwing a pebble into it. I still knew what it was, I'd seen it before, but it wouldn't stop moving and I was feeling awfully dizzy now. _

_ "Hey, Danny, are you okay?" He asked. His image was beginning to stand still. Finally, I can see again._

_ I noticed I'd thrown myself against the lockers for support. "Uhhh…"_

I could've told them…

_I could tell them. They could help me. They're my best friends. They'd understand. They'd know I'm not crazy._

_ Crazy…I won't go crazy. I'm fine….fine…._

_"Yeah, I'm fine!" I said. I smiled. I gave them the best I could offer. I had to be alright. I had to act okay. _

But I didn't.

I didn't tell them. I acted like everything was okay….but it wasn't…not even close.

But how could I take away their innocence? Their peace of mind? Something I longed for.

They weren't aware that the person who had come back from the future that day before the CAT's hadn't been me.

Clock-ack-clo-clock- ack…..forgive me, I can't say his name without choking. 'That guy' had made it so that the events, which took place, afterwards never happened. They didn't know I hadn't just beaten my older self in the future and followed them home.

'It' never happened. Why should they need to know?

_I'd been another long, agonizing day. Why can't I tell them? Why? I don't understand. _

_ I tossed and turned under the blankets. Desperately trying to find a comfortable position. Sleep. I need sleep. I want to sleep. Please, no more nightmares. Just for one night? Please. I need to sleep…_

It was always the same, always, even if the exact events were different. It never changed.

_Where am I? Is this…? Is this Amity Park? The city looks like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie!_

_ Wait. No. No! Please! Please not again! Not this again!_

There was garbage everywhere. But that wasn't what smelled. It was the smell of blood, rotting flesh, burned skin…it was death. And it was everywhere.

Always…always I stood as the city crumbled and I saw the death of everyone I loved…

_PLEASE! DEAR GOD NO! Sam! SAM! Don't..don't hurt her! Run..run…RUN!_

_ You've done enough! She's crying. Her arm is broken, bleeding! She'll never use it again! She won't! Isnt' that enough? Can't she live, please, can't she at least live?!_

_ She's alone, in the corner of a building now in shambles. Her city is gone, her friends are gone, her family is gone, her arm is gone, gone! It's all gone! _

_STOP THIS NOW!_

The death…of everyone I loved.

_Sam looks at me. Her bottom lip is quivering. She's crying. I've never seen her so..so….pathetic. "Danny?" _

At my own hands.

_I'm laughing. Because why the hell not?_

_ Sam bursts out into hysteric tears again. Oh right, she's still here. Hmph. Well, not for long. Heheh…_

_ I sweep my hand down, catching the rest of her mangled arm with it. _

_ She won't be using that ever again. Heh. _

I saw it all through our own eyes. His and mine. I felt every emotion we felt…

_"Danny!" She shrieked. Why are you doing all of this?" She wailed. _

_ Sam….._

_ "Why?" I asked, almost in a whisper. She looks up at me, hoping she's gotten through. _

_ "Fight it," her eyes are saying. "Fight it!"_

_ I shrug. "Ah, Sam. That's easy." I see the hope in her eyes vanish and I can't hold back that wicked grin. "It's because I can!" _

_ My laughter got to the point where it was louder than her screams. Maybe because she couldn't scream anymore or, well, heh…ever again. _

_ Ha hah…ha ha HA. HA HAHHAAAAHAHAHAHAA!_

Those dreams always ended the same, too.

_ "NOOOO!" I screamed. I felt myself fall. Quickly I felt my back reach the floor. I'd taken some of the blankets with me. I laid there, watching the ceiling, watching time. _

_ I sat up. It's just a dream. It isn't real. I looked in the mirror. I had to prove it to myself that he was me. We were not the same. I was-_

_ "Hahahaha!" _

_ I turned away. No…it can't be! I'm not him! I'm not him! I'm not- I'm not- I AM NOT!_

_ I raced to the bathroom. I had to puke, I knew I was gonna puke._

_ I held my face over the toilet but nothing came. I tried coughing, but nothing. I sat there looking at my reflection…. suddenly I felt something rising. I coughed again and again and again. _

_ Then finally I threw up._

_ It lasted nearly forever. _

_ When I'd finished I shakily rose my body to the sink to wash my mouth. I looked in the mirror. It was just the face of a stupid, tired, fourteen year old kid. _

It was then I decided.

In order to not have that dream. In order to stay sane. In order to stay me.

I was just not going to sleep anymore.

_I clenched my fist against the mirror. Okay, Fenton. You can do this. Stay awake…permanently. _

I thought it was a good idea.

After all, if I didn't sleep, I couldn't have the nightmare anymore!

I'd just have to stay awake. I'd wait it out until I thought they were all gone.

Even if there were a few negative side effects…

_Danny's Mind Diary: Day 1_

_ I'm watching the sun come up. Bored. Maybe tomorrow night I'll find something to do. _

_ Danny's Mind Diary: Day 3_

_ I'm so tired I even ate the cafeteria food without complaining. It all just tastes like cardboard now. _

_ Danny's Mind Diary: Day 7_

_ Mr. Lancer gave me an F on that paper today. He didn't seem too pleased with it. Whatever, I just need to get used to staying awake! I was never a stellar student anyway. I have to- I have to stay awake._

And… things began to feel… dreamlike…. As if I was disconnected from reality for short periods.

_Danny's Mind Diary: Day 12_

_ Sam and Tucker keep telling me…what do they keep? Something about? Oh look a talking muffin-_

But for some reason, there wasn't any negative effect on my ghost hunting.

_Danny Phantom dodges the ugly ghost once again! What is this? Like the fourth ghost tonight? _

_ I think calling it a ghost is insulting. Looks more like an overgrown booger to me!_

_ "Hey, ugly!" I shout._

In fact…

_I throw my fist at him. But I've never felt so….so…POWERFUL! It takes barley any effort! Knocking him down it like flicking a domino!_

_ And down he tumbles! _

It almost seemed like I was getting stronger!

Phantom may have been having the time of his life, but Fenton….well let's just say-

_Report card…crap._

_ English: F_

_ Biology: D-_

_ Math: C- _

_ "I'm not surprised mom and dad grounded you." Jazz….great. Just what I needed. "Honestly Danny, what is going on?"_

_ Seriously? My room, and the door was closed. There is a little thing called knocking. _

_ I sat there on the floor, looking up at her n the doorway. I sneered at her. "Hmph. Go away, Jazz!" _

_ She kept giving me that…that…that Jazz look. So I decided to look away._

_ "Danny." She sighed. "Look, you gotta remember you can talk to me about anything." I didn't look at her…I knew she was right. But also, right now, she was wrong. I couldn't. "I know something's up and I'm gonna find out what it is." She said. I knew she was right. "You can't handle everything by yourself." _

_ I looked at her and gave her a smirk. "Challenge accepted." I said._

_ She sighed and began to leave. With her back to turned to me she said, "Even superheroes need saving." _

_ She left me there all alone to swallow that. It was almost funny. I almost choked on it because it was so…freaking…funny….._

_ And in the bathroom it was so funny I cried at a volume I couldn't even hear._

The inner mechanisms of my mind are an enigma. And then milk spills. Indeed, Patrick Star, indeed. Yes, SpongeBob was what kept me awake. Or anything that was on. I'd watch television for hours each night before going to school.

Nothing….I'd sit there and do nothing…and nothing can get pretty tiresome.

_Tiresome…bored….I'm so bored.._

_ I've already seen this episode. But I don't know where I put the remote. Oh, there it is. All the way over there. But I'm all the way over here._

_ Maybe, I'll just watch this episode again._

_ But…so bored…so…so tired…sleepy…sleep. Sleep-_

I didn't have that nightmare again. But that was a sweet dream compared to-

_"Ah! I feel aslee-" I paused. Nothing. Everything was a red haze. "Wha-where? Where am I?" I asked. Could this be a part of the Ghost Zone? Am I dreaming? What? "Ah!" My hands! It doesn't hurt…but it feels….like frozen fire. Or like…_

_ "Wha? What is this!?" My human hands! They're glowing! Only Phantom's glow! And this mark? A gear? It looks oddly familiar… "What the hell is this?"_

_ I felt someone grab the back of my shirt. They tugged on it, as if they were dragging my downward._

_ "LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!" _

_ What is this hell? It's like the souls of the dead are dragging my down in the darkness! Someone, anyone! Save me!_

_ "It's all your fault!" One of them screeches. _

_ "No! Stop it!" I'm trying to pull away, but I keep getting dragged down farther. The red haze is thicker. I can't-I can't see! I can't! I can hardly breathe! "Stop!" I beg. "Please! I didn't….I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" _

_ BLAM!_

_ I opened my eyes. "The hell? The Fenton Ghost Horn?" I asked. I saw Jazz lean down with a serious expression on her face. "Huh? Jazz?"_

_ "We need to talk." She said._

Jazz….I miss you. I wonder what you're doing. Heh. You were always butting your nose in my business. I guess like all older sisters.

I wish you were here. Like back then. I wish… I could…go back….

_"Danny, you need to talk about what's going on." She said. "No more keeping things to yourself. _

Jazz. Do you know where I am? Did they tell you? They captured the legendary Danny Phantom. And Fenton. Though the latter was an accident.

Have you…no. I know you couldn't do anything for me. Now or then. I just wish I could see your face one last time….

_So she drug me down in the middle of the night and made me sit with her in the kitchen so I could what? Watching her make tea? Or is that coffee? Whatever. _

_ Finally she sits down and after a sip of her coffee tea liquid she looks right at me. "Nightmares? That's what has been bothering you?" _

_ I told her everything…mostly everything…not the…just…."Yeah." I told her._

_ "Makes sense." She said. Here it comes. The analysis. "The exhaustion, the grouchiness, the slipping grades-" She tapped her finger on the table. "Nightmares…hmmm."_

_ Here comes the final diagnosis! _

_ "Well, to be honest, there's not a whole lot available about treating nightmares. I mean, if you already now the dream isn't real-" That's just it, Jazz. I do know that for a fact it IS real. 'So…maybe try reading something that'll occupy your thoughts before you go to bed? Try not to watch violet TV shows or video games…or, if it gets worse, maybe you should consider seeing a therapist." _

_ "No." I said._

_ Jazz gave me a steady look. "Danny, I know after the whole Spectra thing you're kinda-"_

_ "Please, Jazz, anything but that." I begged. Puppy dog eyes do your thing! _

_ She sighed. "Okay, okay. No therapist…for now. But if it gets worse please consider it. I'm not an expert on this particular subject."_

_ "For once." I said, popping the joint muscles in my hand. _

_ "Yeah, yeah. Like I was saying, my knowledge of treating a fifteen and a half year old boy for nightmares is limited but," she paused. "I need you to promise me if it gets worse you'll come to me, okay? We can get professional help. Danny, if things get worse they might have some really bad affects on you." She looked away for a moment. "You got it, Danny?" She said looking back at me almost desperately. "Promise me you won't try and fix this yourself! Promise!" _

_ I looked at her, really looked at her. "Yeah, Jazz, I promise." I said and she took me in a warm embrace. _

_ "Thank you, little brother."_

_ If there was one thing I've learned being Danny Phantom, ghost hunting all these years, it was how to be a convincing liar. _

Heh..heh…Liar, liar, pants on fire….heh hehehe ha hahahahaha!

_Ah I love that sound: the sound of a ghost being sucked into the Fenton thermos. I closed the lid. "Buh-bye, gruesome!"_

_ I smiled. Ghost hunting was the only thing for me right now. It was the only thing I was doing right._

_ "Man, ghosts recently! Beating 'em just keeps getting easier and easi- eh?" I felt something… shocked me... "Ah?" My body it feels like it's on fire! No…like it's freezing!_

_ "AGH!" Oh, God. Something. Something doesn't feel right. I feel as if my entire body is DISINTEGRATING!_

I had fallen to my knees. I was alone in the dark part of the city. It hadn't lasted long. It wasn't painful.

For a moment there it actually felt like I had been super charged. It was like when I first got my powers but like way less painful.

I didn't know what happened. And as I flew away I decided to act like it hadn't happened at all.

But I couldn't…

_Observers…what bothers. _

Shake…

_"We meet again, half-dea-"_

the feeling…

_What's going on? Wait! No! It's happening!_

That…something…

_Jazz… don't cry…._

Was going to….

_"These flowers sure are lovely-" _

_ "Val!" _

Happen…

_"DANNY! NO!"_

_ Sam?_

Soon.

Time is of the essence, Daniel. Don't let the sand slip through your fingers.


	4. Chapter 4

** HELLO MY PEOPLE! I hope you've enjoyed the story so far! Thanks to all who reviewed! I LOVED reading your comments! More are appreciated! Sorry this update took a while. I've had the flu and a lot was going on but I'll keep updating! I won't update everyday but I will try to do it frequently. Updates may take a day to almost a week depending on how much work I can get accomplished each day. During the last fic I know it was kind of confusing but thanks for sticking with it. That last part on CH3 was actually a crap ton of foreshadowing! AND THE PLOT THICKENS! DUH DUH DUNNNN! On a different note, I've been using old nursery rhymes in the story as sort of a writing style just to show Danny's insanity. Here I've used a different song that isn't a Mother Goose tale. It isn't available on iTunes but you can find it on YouTube as part of the Alan Wake soundtrack. It's called The Poet and His Muse by Poets of the Fall. I didn't put in my interpretation or any added details. I think the words are enough. I didn't put the whole song either. I didn't want to bore you guys with my obsession of song lyrics. I hope you'll enjoy it! Also, I've been working really hard on the plot and might I say it's quite interesting! I hope you guys will enjoy it! But we are still far away from that point. For now, we're sticking with the comic. This chapter is based off pages 67- 88. I've been trying to keep my chapters the same length as the Alchemists Muse so it's easier for the comic fans to understand the transition of comic to story. I accidently cut the last one short a page or two! OOPS! Sorry about that! But that means this one is longer! Woot woot! I want to thank all you guy's for reading and reviewing! It means a lot! And here are the answers to your questions! **

** Guest User- Good question! No, Kwan has no idea Phantom is half human. Looking back in the records he discovers Phantom literally has NEVER slept. Ever. Humans have to sleep to survive. The longest any single human has gone without sleep is eleven days…then well... the end result isn't very pretty…..**

** MrsFirzzle- Yeah chapter 3 was difficult to write too! I'll do my best to give more descriptions this chapter! And I'll keep working on that! Thanks for telling me! Oh and the beginning wasn't Danny time traveling to the Middle Ages, it was actually during the Black Plague in London many, many years ago in I believe the 1500's era? Anyway, it's just been the opening but the connection in that people have died. You'll lean later Danny knows a lot of stuff he shouldn't and why. Yeah the breaks are really hard to put. I keep trying different things and I didn't know we could even use different fonts…but I keep trying to figure out a smooth transition to jump from scene to scene like in the comic. I tried spacing, brackets, stars, and a bunch of other stuff but it doesn't seem to work.. I used a technique similar to the one I'm going to try here in a Teen Titans fanfiction. Tell me if it is easier to read this way. Thank you one again for the review! *bows* I hope I don't disappoint! **

** I hope you enjoy the next chapter of Asylum! Don't go insane reading it else the GIW might lock you up too! ;D hahaha!**

…_But I just couldn't shake the feeling…_

_ That something was going to happen…_

_ Soon…._

_ There's an old town wrought with mystery and Tom, the Poet, and his Muse. And the magic lake, which gave a life, to words the Poet used._

_ Now, the Muse she was his happiness and rhymed about her grace. And told her stories of treasures deep beneath the blackened waves. _

_ 'Til in the stillness of one dawn, still in its mystic crown, the Muse she went down to the lake and in the waves she drowned. _

_ The Poet went down to the lake to call out to his dear. When there was no answer he was overcome with fear. _

_ He searched in vain for his treasure lost and too soon the night would fall. And only his own echo would wail back at his call. _

_ And when he swore to bring back his love by stories he'd create, nightmares shifted in their sleep in the darkness of the lake. _

_ In the dead of night she came to him with darkness in her eyes; wearing a mourning gown, sweet words as her disguise. _

_ He took her in without a word for he saw his grave mistake, and vowed them both to silence deep beneath the lake. _

_ Now if it's real or just a dream one mystery remains: For it is said on moonless nights they may still haunt this place._

**Chapter 4**

Phantom sat in his cell. He was alone. He was always alone. The only company he had was his thoughts.

Something happening…soon…that feeling…

"Ah..Heh…" he shifted in his straightjacket. In his cell, he smiled brightly to himself. "Heh, heheh, hah! Hahahahahahah Hahaha Hahahahahahaha hah haha heheh heh. Oh, man! Heh." He finally stopped to catch his breath.

Phantom laid his head against the wall, still smiling as bright as ever. "I hate being right about stuff like that." He said.

_My most despised hallucinations are those replaying fragments of my memories… But I remember now. _

Phantom looked up at the ceiling. Normally, looking directly at the light hurts your eyes. But the light in Phantom's cell, well, it could barley be called a light could it? It was a dim, flickering bulb. It was the only thing that would listen to him anymore.

_It was almost right after that first weird surge of power when I was sixteen… That night I became entirely unable to sleep… even when I actually wanted to. _

**Valerie Gray's Apartment…**

_ Bzzz.. .bzzzzz..bzzzz._

Valerie Gray was asleep. Key word: was. How was she supposed to stay that way with her phone continuing to buzz like that? Her eyes were closed and she fumbled around in the dark with her hand for her phone. It was somewhere on her nightstand-Ah! There it is.

"Uh..yeh…'ello?" She asked, half-asleep. Her eyes were still closed. It was probably no one, no one important enough to wake her, at least.

The other line answered and she immediately sat up. "WHAT?! Wait a sec-" She paused. "B-but now? It's like…uh…what time is it anyway?" She took her ear off the phone and looked at her clock. 4: 15am…. "You've got to be kidding me.." she muttered. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm still here." She said, beginning to get out of bed, her legs thrown over the side of her mattress. "Oh? Okay." She said, standing up. "I'll meet you there in half an hour."

Valerie hung up and sighed. What was her boss thinking? Well, it didn't matter. She owed him too much to say anything about it. She had to suck it up and deal with it, like she always did.

She looked at her wall. She still kept the newspaper from that day. She'd even framed it. It was the article about Phantom's capture after all. Even though, no, especially because she wasn't the one to capture him. The damn GIW did her job for her.

Of course they'd been doing it longer than she had, but still, Phantom was her's to capture. The fact the lousy government operatives beat her to it made her sick.

She shook her head. _Wake up, Valerie. Phantom is locked away, that's all that matters. Besides, you have bigger things to worry about. _

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum…**

"Hmmm?" The scientist squinted his eyes. He was sitting in the middle of an empty hallway doing research on his laptop. Kwan Li was a diligent man. When it came to his work he was efficient, and when it came to something that'd peaked his interest he was very focused.

The scientist yawned. Okay, focused a little too much. So many questions unanswered, he didn't have time to sleep.

"It's, uh, late… isn't it?" One of the Agents asked him. When did he sneak up on him?

"And yet," Supervisor Marshall said, suddenly appearing beside him. "I find you in a Computer Lab, wide awake."

Kwan felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead. He wasn't a good liar, and he couldn't smooth talk himself out of a situation. He'd thought he was alone!

Figures, though. That's the GIW for you. Just when you think you can make your coffee, smoke your cigar, or pee in peace and quiet, away from the hawk's eyes, they've already got it on file.

"So," Marshall began, "Just what were you working on?"

Kwan brushed back his hair, nervously. "Uh, well-"

"They've arrived, sir!" An Agent said. "We're opening the door."

Kwan sighed in relief. Supervisor Marshall switched his attention to the door. "Good. Let's get this over with." He said, repositioning his dark-tined glasses, one's similar to all GIW Operatives, with his middle finger.

Kwan stood up and watched the door. It was "The door." The front door was a door. "The Door" was more like a safe. It was impenetrable, not that many people wanted to break in as much as they did out. Top security, made of the best material, impossible to crack open. It was about as thick as the glass in large aquarium tanks. It was five whole minutes before the door even showed a sliver of light to the other side. That door was like the mouth of a giant monster…

Kwan wiped off his glasses with his shirttail. When he put them back on the blurred image of he visitor cleared out to be Valerie Gray.

"Miss. Gray," Marshall began, "Now that you are here, may I ask for the reason as to why you requested use of the Agent's secure entrance rather than the front door?" He asked.

The door widened to reveal another visitor beside Valerie. One in a suit with white hair tied back and a cane to aid him.

'Well, just so you know it wasn't just for me." She said.

"You know how it is, Supervisor Marshall," The visitor had a British accent. "A man like me does have enemies, after all." Vlad Master approached the supervisor. "I'd like to thank you for allowing use of your, ah, 'side door'."

The Supervisor's glasses hid his glare. He wasn't too fond of the funder nor did he like him showing up without first telling him. Still, he had to act friendly, because Mr. Masters was not only the funder but they mayor of Amity Park.

Marshall shook hands with Vlad. "You are welcome, Mr. Masters. I have been told you wish to speak with our scientists about something?"

"Well, thanks to Miss. Gray here it has come to my attention that there is indeed something I wish to understand, so," Mr. Masters said. "I have something very specific I would very much like to discus privately with _you, _Supervisor Marshall, seeing you are the head of this facility."

Supervisor Marshall nodded, and gestured Mr. Masters with his arm. "Of course, Mr. Masters. Please, follow me."

Valerie watched as the two men walked alone down the hall. "So what?" She asked, putting a hand on her hip. "We're just supposed to wait here?"  
Kwan shrugged. "Guess so."

Valerie suddenly noticed something: the Agents. They looked very similar to Operatives: white jackets, white pants, white shoes, everything white. It made the black ties and dark glasses stand out. They were very intimidating. But apparently, there was a difference. And she noticed the way the were acting was…different than the Operatives who seemed a lot more like their own boss than members of the GIW.

Valerie leaned closer to Kwan, almost in a whisper she asked, "Hey Kwan, what's up with them anyway?"

He arched a brow. "Hm? What do you mean?"

She eyed the Agetns. "Why do they act so…so-"

"Professional? Disciplined?" He finished.

"All of the above." Valerie answered. She expected as much from GIW, but they were stiff and something was always odd. She'd seen them out in the field before and they didn't always act like this.

"That's right," Kwan said, realizing something. "All the guys who ever went to Amity were either Operatives or Troopers."

Valerie gave him a curious look. "What's the difference?" She asked, almost regretting it.

"See, there is a ranking system in the GIW. We are a government facility after all! At the top is Central Command located in Sectors D and C. They're mostly just there to look impressive and important. Right under them in the hierarchy are the Supervisors, like Mr. Marshall. The Supervisors pretty much run the GIW. They're as high ranking as you can get short of being in Central Command, but no one actually wants to be in Central Command because you just get tons of paperwork. It's really a desk job, no excitement.

"I'm not sure if Central Command and the Supervisors use codenames or not? Below the Supervisors are Operatives, who have letter based codenames like Operative K and Operative L. There are always 26 Operatives at a time, probably because that's how many letters are in the alphabet. They're real arrogant, don't really pay attention to the rules or protocol and pretty much just do as they please. They do the majority of the fieldwork, unfortunately. Most of the GIW who go to Amity Park for missions are Operatives.

"Then there are the Agents. They have codenames consisting of numbers and letters that depend on their rank within the GIW. Starting with A1 then B1 and all the way up through number 30 or so. So they'll be an A1, an A2, and all the way up until A30 and then the rank lower is B1 and B2 and so forth. They're pretty professional acting because it raises their chances of being promoted. And they're better trained than Operatives. Sadly, the only real fieldwork they do is cleaning up the Operative's messes. Almost all GIW in facilities are Agents.

"And practically at the bottom of the food chain are the Troopers. Basically, they're foot soldiers used for large-scale assaults and things of that nature. But they also do the most menial tasks when not in battle. They do a lot of guardroom and to be honest, you don't want to spend too long at this level because this rank has the highest mortality rates. Mostly because the Troopers get tossed in random combat often." Kwan said.

Valerie felt her eye twitch. Was he serious?

'That's just about it." He finished with a big smile, "Aside from the GIW members outside basic ranks like janitors, engineers, and scientists like me."

"Well, I could've lived without knowing just how irresponsible government agencies can be. Thanks a lot!" Valerie snapped. Kwan just shrugged while the Agents silently agreed with her.

Valerie wasn't even sure why she was there. Waking up at dark thirty, going back to the GIW, one of the many places she hated, and being ditched by her employer was not her idea of a wonderful start to the day. Still, it was her job. Even if the GIW couldn't protect the innocents, she would. Like hell she would let another Danny Fenton accident happen to her again. No, never ever again…

**GIW Supervisor Marshall's Office…**

"So, if I understand what you just said, you're asking me for direct access to Phantom's cell with no GIW coming with you?" Marshall asked.

The Supervisor stroked his mustache, it was a curious situation. A man of Mr. Masters status asked something of him no one ever did, unless they were hunters or investigators. Who else would want to walk into a ghost's cell? Phantom's cell of all places!

Vlad Masters leaned back in the seat, awfully confortable with himself, after all he was the funder and they'd already let his hired hunter in so he already expected the answer.

"Yes," Masters said, a nonchalant smile across his face, "You heard me correctly." Vlad wasn't quite sure why, but he felt like patting himself on the back. He tilted his head down to cover his smirk.

Marshall slowly stood up in his seat. He eyed the funder carefully. "Well," he said. "Request denied."

Masters frantically looked up at the Supervisor. "WHAT? WHY?!" He demanded.

"Mr. Masters, do you really think I would allow a civilian, even- no- _especially _a civilian of your status to enter the cell of one of our most powerful ghosts?" He asked with his back turned to the funder.

Master's felt heat rise in his ears. How dare this man! "B-but Miss Gray was-"

"Miss Gray is a licensed hunter, Mr. Masters, not a civilian." He explained. "She was armed and more than capable of defending herself if the need arose."

Vlad grabbed the edge of seat's armrests. He heard the wood slightly crack under his hands.

"With no disrespect," Marshall said, "You are almost 57 years old and are disabled, sir. Also, if you were to be injured, it would create issues for both the committee in charge of the regulations involving the handling of our dangerous captured ghost specimens as well as drastically jeopardize our public image."

Vlad felt the wood stick in his hands, the splintering wood slowly being crushed. No. NO! He didn't understand! He HAD to get in there. It was…it was everything! And this pompous was in his way! _CHEESE LOGS!_

"My apologies, Mr. Masters." Marshall said. "But your trip here was pointless is that was your only reason for coming."

Vlad felt it. The power charge, it was rising in him. Anger was one of his greatest triggers. Even in Daniel, anger seemed to trigger a lot of power. And right now, he was furious.

He felt his body get stronger, his fight instincts were screaming at him; his eyes felt that dark glare. He could taste it in his mouth, the bloodlust. And it was all for the man in front of him.

Marshall began turning around. "Was that everything? Mr. Masters? Was there-"

"Sir!" A trooper barraged in. Vlad instantly locked back his power. He felt the anger fleeing. He felt…human. "My scanner was detecting escalating levels of eco-energy! Is every-"

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?!" Supervisor Marshall snapped, slamming his hand on the desk. Do you see a ghost in here?!"

Vlad shifted in his seat. _That,_ he thought, _was a close one. _He almost chuckled to himself_. Mr. Marshall, you are a lucky man. For a second there I.. heh.. I really wanted to kill you. _

"Even if there was a ghost in here," the Supervisor continued, "don't you think I'd be able to handle it? I am in the middle of a meeting! Don't barge into my office again!" He yelled.

The Trooper stood up as straight as his back would let him. "Y-yes, sir! I'm sorry, Supervisor Marshall, s-sir!" He said. How embarrassing. That and the Supervisor was a scary, scary man. He nearly wet his pants. The Trooper quickly exited the door.

Vlad released the armrest and heard the soft crackle of the wood under his hands. _How troublesome_. He thought to himself.

"Right." Marshall snorted. "Now, Mr. Masters?" He asked.

Vlad came back to reality. "I understand." He said through gritted teeth. "It was irresponsible on my part…" He said. Using his cane he hoisted himself up. "I apologize for the inconvenience."

Mr. Marshall escorted Masters out of his office where the Trooper stood guard. "Not a problem, Mr. Masters. It was an understandable mistake." He said. _Still, why does the mayor want to enter Phantom's cell? It just doesn't feel right._ Supervisor Marshall turned on the Trooper and glared down at him. "And you, report back to me later. We need to discus discipline." He said.

The Trooper quivered in his suit. You'd think that a bulky suit that covered your face might make you feel safer, but it wasn't the case. Vlad watched as he silently pressed a button on his cane. "Yes, sir! I'll remember, sir!" The Trooper said.

Marshall nodded and walked with Vlad. "Good," he said. "Do that."

As they walked down the hall the Trooper smiled behind his mask. _No one suspects a thing_. He almost chuckled to himself. No one knew who it was under that mask. No one recognized those red eyes and that cold voice. Not like Phantom did. Soon he would see the ghost child once again; in a way he almost missed him. How... poetic. _So, shall we begin the game?_

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum- Elevator 3…**

The two men stood outside the elevator, waiting. Marshall barley tilted his head, "There is something I should bring up." He said, something in his voice Vlad found distasteful.

However, Masters found most humans distasteful. Ghosts too, for that matter. This world is ugly. And he could hardly stand it.

He arched a brow at the Supervisor and turned his head to show he was listening.

"I hope you realize if for some reason our funding was cut off for," he paused, "What one might call "selfish" reasons, well, the GIW is a government agency, after all, and we can make life difficult for those selfish people." He hinted.

Their attention was momentarily stolen by the ding of the elevator. Vlad smirked as he entered. "Of course." He said.

The doors closed behind him and Masters brushed off his hat. "You really shouldn't worry." He said. "After all," Vlad cocked a grin, "I would never do such a thing as a simple act of petty revenge." He claimed, placing his hat back on his head.

The Supervisor watched the funder for a moment. The mayor was a curious man indeed. "I am…happy to hear that." He said.

The Supervisor didn't know that a signal had just been sent. A signal that would sent of chain of spiraling events out of control.

_Let the game begin._

**Outside the GIW Base…**

He checked the statistics again, and then again, then for a third time. He was done waiting. Just how long did his employer expect to keep him waiting?

He glared at the machine in his suit. He was quite disappointed in the outcome so far. "He wasn't allowed in." He commented.

One of The Vulture Ghosts flew down to his level. "Skulker," he said. He smiled at hearing his name, "Vhy doesn't Master Plasmius jus' use a Jammer to block those guys' Ghost-Scanner's 'vike 'vu do?" He inquired. "Then he could jus' overshadow va man."

Skulker let out a regretful sigh. "Because A) The Jammer only works at long distances; B) All GIW agents have deflectors to prevent them from being overshadowed, and C) That Supervisor will notice when his subordinates tell him that he let Plasmius into Phantom's cell and has no memory of it!" He spat. "Birf brains." He muttered.

"Vell, vu don't need to get all snappy about it!" The vulture said. "It vas jus' some harmless curiosity."

"Just go you your positions! You know what to do!" Skulker snapped. The three birds frantically scrambled to fly to their designations. Falling and tripping on each other.

"Vatch it!"

"Vu vatch it!"

Skulker let out a regretful moan and shook his head. "Ahem." He heard a graceful male's voice ask. That reminded him, they weren't alone. He couldn't hold back his wicked grin. Wasn't the Ghost Child going to be in for a surprise?!

He turned to his partner. "Ah, right. I almost forgot." He chuckled. "Are you ready for the game to begin?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it took a while guys! Thursdays are going to be my margin! Updates should be either a little before, after, or on that day. So, this chapter is based off pages 91- 110 of Asylum from the Alchemists Muse on deviantART. I'm really getting psyched for this guys! Things are going very well behind the scenes and I do hope you'll all be pleased by the way the story turns out! It's gonna blow yo minds! . Okay, now to do the Q&A.**

**kuro-okami13- Good eyes, yes it was Clockwork who was the trooper! And as for him being an enemy, no. He's an ally of Phantom so he wouldn't have it out for him, however he does have to keep an eye on him and honestly he can be pretty scary, right? I'm sure Danny isn't on the best terms with father time, still, they aren't enemies. **

**MsFrizzle- The songs at the begging are just for show. Still, I wouldn't suggest skipping them because you're going to need to know what they are later. But yes, it's showing Phantom's losing his grip on reality, as far as we know. He's seeing past events. Strange, isn't it? But you are correct. Many believe that song is a reference to the Black Plague in London.**

**I'm glad I've engaged you! The plot only gets deeper from here! I'm not holding back! :D **

**Right, it seems they're visiting at night but it's actually very early in the morning. Remember Val getting up early? The sun hadn't risen yet. I suppose the mayor has a busy schedule? Or is it something more? Hmm? **

**That is a very good question! You see, the government does give the GIW money but all their fancy gadgets and updated models and things of that nature cost more than the government is willing to pay. So in order to have all these fun toys, they need someone to fund them so they can have splurge money to buy shiny new guns! :D **

**Oh, I quite think the apology was very necessary. Yes, a ruse indeed. It's like politics. They both know they can't let their guard down, but they act like gentlemen. Think of it like holding a wine glass that's been poisoned, you have to hold it to look dignified but relax and drink it and it's game over. That mysterious button was a signal sent to Skulker and his team to move in on the plan that should be unfolding right about..NOW!**

**Thanks to all who reviewed! Please R&R and feel free to ask me anything! I happen to really like critiques, so if you have tips to help me improve my writing that'd be great! Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy this next chapter of Asylum! Please, feel free to go insane. **

_London Bridge is falling down…_

Groggily, the Phantom looks up. He hates these flashes. What is this? A memory? A vision? His mind breaking…

_Falling down…_

Where is he this time? The air is full of smoke. The sky is a blood red with dark, angry clouds looming over the city. It's blurry. People are running frantically, screaming, and crying. Sweat covering their brow, the grit so horrible they can barley stand it.

_Falling down… _

"'Urry it up!"

"Move 'et!"

"'ELP ME!"

British? Again? London….again? Where to next? Where will his mind sent him to be poisoned?

The phantom gets up and starts walking. His body feels sluggish and tired. He's exhausted, but he's never able to find rest. He just has to keep walking. And even though he struggles, an obvious stranger unfitting in that world, he goes about unnoticed. The Phantom is a ghost in time. In fact, he isn't even there.

But he sees it.

_London Bridge is falling down._

You can't even say it's crumbling down. You say that when a building is left to rot and after one swing of the wrecking ball it begins to slowly fall apart bit by bit. This was like an overwhelming-fallout. The very earth failing them, breaking underneath and letting some fall to their deaths and the others forced to trap smoke in their fragile human lungs.

The phantom in this past closes his eyes and listens to that familiar voice. Where has he heard it? It's so high, so sweet, and he can't name it. But the voice sings to him always. And he hates it. He sees these horrible things while the voice serenades him. He's forced to watch, to listen, to be tortured.

Here it comes…here comes the end.

_My fair lady. _

"Time is of the essence, Daniel. Don't let the sand slip through your fingers."

**Chapter 5**

"C'mon," the scientist says, leaning against a white wall. He digs his hangs into his pockets and tilts his head slightly down to see the huntress next to him. She's looking straight ahead; not taking her eyes off the hall her employer disappeared down. "You've got to admit that's kind of strange. I mean, if surgery would fix his leg-"

"I know." The ghost huntress says, her green eyes sharp. "I asked about it, but the seems really resistant to even go near a doctor's office or hospital." She said. "He doesn't do a whole lot of outright ghost hunting himself, but it still doesn't make sense that he refuses to-"

… _boom…_

Kwan, Valerie, and the two GIW agents looked down the hall. "What was that?" Kwan asked. Valerie held up her hand to silence him. Dr. Li noticed the other three were on high alert. So he paused, and focused on breathing.

All four of them paused, holding their breath, waiting for it to happen again.

Was the hallway that narrow before? Did it always look so unending? Had it always been so blindingly white before? Valerie couldn't tell. But the world wasn't right. Something was off. So she listened, her breathing slowed. She could barley hear the subtle beats of her heart. She had to listen for what was casing this wrongness in the air.

_BOOM…BOOM! __**BOOM!**_

__"This is Agent 22B at corridor number 5, operative entranceway," one of them said into his hand radio, "We just heard a large noise. Does anyone know the cause?"

_**BOOM!**_

__"There it is again!" Kwan shouted. _It's getting louder_, he thought to himself.

The entire GIW base heard the echoing boom. The science lab, the trooper's training room, the Supervisor's office…

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum Corridor Number 6…**

In corridor number 6, two troopers guarded the hall. They listened to the echo. The loud booming was growing.

"Hey did you just hear something?" One of them asked.

The trooper next to him shrugged. "Probably just the science division, you know how they are."

_BOOM…BOOM! __**BOOM!**_

__They heard the sound behind them and quickly turned. The wall was cracking! But that was impossible. Nothing could penetrate the GIW!

"W-What the hell was that?!" One asked.

Suddenly, the wall crumbled down into tiny pieces, falling over them. They ducked, trying to grasp the situation. As the smoke cleared they both watched as what emerged from the outside was a large dragon with sharp, unmerciful eyes.

The troopers quivered in their boots, literally shaking at the knees. They stood there and watched as its massive arm clawed in and his head bent down to the corridor. Unknowing what to do a trooper took shaky aim and fired his blaster at the enormous beast. The dragon turned its head to them and they watched his chest fill up heavily with air and it let out a mighty roar. With one magnificent claw, the dragon swatted at a trooper, killing him instantly while the other was forced to watch the blood seep from the beast's claws as he remained glued to the floor.

Why… why couldn't he move? Why couldn't he run? Scream. Why can't he scream? The beast's eye rolled to side and it was staring right at him. Barley above a whisper he managed a quiet "Ah." Before watching the dragon's mouth open wide and take him under.

The only sound was of the dragon's teeth ripping at his flesh, and the blood slipping. No matter how hard he pushed, the trooper's screams never came.

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum Corridor Number 5…**

The scientist grudgingly leaned against the wall, his coffee beginning to become col. "'Stay here Dr. Li', 'We'll go check it out, Dr. Li'," He mocked. He took another sip of coffee. He winkled his nose; he wasn't a cold-coffee man. "'You're completely useless fighting ghosts, Dr. Li, even if you aced all those physical training tests'! Peh!" He spat. He wasn't a fragile nerd; he could take a few hits. He used to be a football player, a good one. Kwan sighed. "Three years of extra school for this." He said.

_Thump…_

Kwan noticed the ripples in his coffee. Wait… what was that vibration?

"Hm?" He asked, looking down the hall. A dark shadow was approaching.

_Thump. _

"Eh? I guess the guards have got it already." He said, shaking a bit. Keep it together, he told himself_. _

_ THUMP!_

Kwan gulped. He had to think logically. He worked for the GIW. He'd been in the cell of Danny Phantom! He had to be brave! He couldn't be scared. Logical, think logical. _Practical, what do you think is going on, Kwan?_ "Val and the agents have got this. There is no way they'd let it get-"

_**ROAR!**_

_ Thump. Thump. THUMP. THUMP! THUMP! __**THUMP!**_

__Kwan closed his eyes. "I'm perfectly safe." He told himself, quivering a bit. He felt his weak knees kick in and is body shake. "I'm in no danger at all." He sighed. Silence. He opened his eyes and felt his mouth drop and his heart sink to his stomach. Fear violently bit into every nerve of his body.

"Tell me, wretch," The dragon said, its mouth so close Kwan could smell the blood. The beast's red eyes glared into his very core. He could see inside its mouth. He saw blood subtly on the dark scales around its mouth, a snag of skin stuck between its teeth, and its lizard-like tongue hitting the roof of its mouth as he spoke. The dragon lifted the muscular part of his wings to buff himself up. He was… giant. "Tell me where Phantom is." It said.

**Phantom's Cell…**

Cold, really cold. It felt like his inside froze for a moment. His ghost sense, though it hadn't gone off in years.

_There are other ghosts being kept at this facility_, he thought to himself, _but I could never sense them before._

Phantom watched the never-ending wisp of blue air dance in his cell. He forgot how it felt. It's been so long..

_So… why is my ghost sense going off? _He wondered.

Phantom glared at the door, his shoulders arched forward and he shivered. _Something's changed. _

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum Corridor 77J…**

_Stupid! _Kwan cursed himself. He was walking down the hallway with a particular key in his hand. A key very few people where authorized to have. _How can I be so stupid? Why the hell am I doing such a stupid thing?_

"We had better be getting close to where Phantom is." The dragon said.

_Oh, wait! That's why!_ Kwan felt the dragon's warm breath wash over him. He choked a bit and cringed when he spoke. He hadn't noticed before, but the dragon spoke in an almost British accent. Dr. Li shivered. Of all the ways he thought he'd die working at GIW being eaten alive by a dragon was never one of them.

"Y-yeah," he assured. "It's j-just down this h-hall." He said. Kwan tried keeping cool, but his legs were shaking and his lip was quivering. He felt his body shiver and twitch.

Fear. The dragon could smell it. It reeked of this man. Almost laughable it was so pathetic. Still, it was fun to watch him cringe.

"It'd better be." He said, letting his mighty head become level with Kwan's head and upper torso. The man closed his eyes again and began shaking. "Because if you're lying…heh heh." The dragon raised his head again, almost breaking into laughter. He loved to watch peasants dance.

His heart. Oh, God, his heart. It was beating so fast it almost hurt. His chest could feel every vibration. It caused him to gulp down the air greedily. Kwan Li's heart… he'd never felt it beating so fast.

While the beast was busy glorifying himself, Kwan quickly flipped a switch on his locator tucked in his belt buckle.

He kept walking. _Val…you and the other two…please…find me…. before it's too late!_

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum Corridor Number 6…**

"Oh hell, you've got to be joking!" Valerie yelled. It was a mess. The three investigated the scene. A huge hole was in the wall and pieces of debrief were everywhere. Then there were the troopers, or rather, what was left of them.

"What happened here?" Agent 22C asked.

Valerie looked around. "The wall wasn't blown up. Look, you can see claw marks, as if something tried barging in here. And the debrief is blown in the building so the force came from outside." She said.

"Look at this," 22B said. "It looks as if a large force of pressure broke his chest. See?"

Valerie felt herself hold in the bile rising in her throat. The first trooper was a bloody mess but the second was just gone. But there had to be a second. There is always a pair.

"Found trooper 2," Agent 22C said. "Well, part of him."

Valerie saw the other agent kneeling by a lone arm, which looked as if it'd been ripped off by an animal. Blood was all over the walls, floor, and ceiling. It was disturbing.

"Rigor motis hasn't set in." 22B said. He examined the first trooper. "Unfortunately, it looks like the time of death was fairly recent." He stood up and tried to remain clam. "It is imperative we find the ghost that did this as soon as possible. If it continues to wander through the facility-"

A beeping suddenly came from Agent 22C's wrist-communicator. He examined the watch, pulling up the data it was receiving.

"It doesn't make sense." Agent 22B said. "Why would a ghost break _into_ a GIW facility?"

"A distress signal was activated." 22C said. "It's from Dr. Li." He said.

Valerie suddenly pushed the agents head out of the way and scoped the communicator. "What? Let me see!" She demanded. "It says he's at corridor 77J. Where is that?"

Shoving her off he looked at Kwan's location. He felt his heart rise in his throat. "This is a problem." Agent 22B said.

Valerie folded her arms. "Well, duh it's a problem if-"

"No, you don't understand." 22C interjected. "Corridor 77J is where Phantom's cell is located."

Valerie cursed under her breath. "Why didn't you just say that?!" She screamed. As she ran to 77J her battle suit was activating. Power. She could feel it. _Why would a ghost break in this place? To break another ghost out! Of course! I should've known this was going to happen! _

She thought back to the day he was captured, seeing him all chained up gave her a warm feeling and a sick one. Then the missing Fenton… and after that everything drifted away. She wouldn't let it happen. Phantom wouldn't hurt her or anymore people ever again. Not on her watch.

"Whatever this ghost is planning," she said, "it won't succeed while I'm here."

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum Corridor 77J…**

It was a high standard door. Only someone with the key, the code, and a DNA scan could enter. It said **No Unauthorized Entry** marked clearly on the door. It was cell #82678 located at corridor 77J in the special GIW building labeled Asylum. It was called this for the fact it acted as a prison for all the mentally unstable ghosts. And of course, the home of the lab rats for the GIW scientists.

"This is the place?" The dragon asked.

Kwan nodded. He opened his mouth but it took a second to squeak out a pitiful "yes".

"Open it," it commanded, breathing down Kwan's neck, "or I'll rip your head form your shoulders."

Kwan gulped. He was going to do this? Really? Sure, Phantom may have seemed nice at one point but after all these years he isn't stable. Who knows what could happen. How long had he been planning this breakout? Or did he not?

He inserted the key. Punched in the code and let the scanners ID his handprint. "Security override accepted." A robotic voice answered the cell door began to open.

It was a hissing sound that made Kwan flinch. He did it. He really did it… what exactly had he just done?

**Inside Phantom's Cell…**

It was dark. It was quiet. And he was alone.

It was a normal day, expect for one thing. His ghost sense, it was going mad now. His power was begging to be let out. What was causing it?

Suddenly the door hissed, it was being opened. Phantom turned and looked up. The crack was small at first and it was trusted open. Too fast! Too much!

All his life in the dark, it'd been so long since this intensity of light had reached him. He cowered away in pain. "AGGGGHHHHH!" He screamed. _TOO BRIGHT!_

_ Ah! My eyes... I can't see a thing. The door has never been wide open before. My ghost sense-_

Phantom looked in the doorway, squinting. He saw two figures in the light... very familiar figures.

_Who's there? I can't tell. _

A mighty hand grabbed him. It was scaly and strong and not gentle. He recognized it. Phantom felt the air being squeezed out of him from the aggressive man-handling.

It slammed him to the ground, casing the little air he had left to wheeze out in the form of his ghost sense. "Uhh..rhhh!"

Phantom looked up. "Uhh..what?" He asked. It was a dragon, a ghost dragon. "Aragon?!"

Kwan watched Phantom's life being squashed out of him. The look on his face and what he just said, Phantom knew this ghost. But he wasn't here to help Phantom break out. He was here to eliminate him.

"Wait! Ghost-dragon, stop!" Kwan said desperately trying to squeeze by. Phantom was most of his life's work. He was his psychologist, the only person who Phantom would talk to. He told himself he didn't care about Phantom, but in that second, seeing him in pain and possibly dying, he couldn't think of anything more important other than _No….no….STOP! STOP!_

"Insignificant peasant!" Aragon boomed, raising his tail. "You dare tell me what to do?" Aragon whipped his tail back and hit Kwan in his chest, throwing him in mid-air until his back hit the wall. As he slid down to the floor he was still in panic until the darkness drug him down into unconsciousness.

_No…no…stop…Phantom…..save…I care…I care? I care…..I..stop…please..no…no….. _

_ No._

_ …. help_


	6. Chapter 6

**I can't believe it!** ***wipes away tear*** **You're still here! THANK YOU! OKAY! Enough with the sappy stuff! Here it is the next chapter of Asylum based off pages 111- 130 of Asylum by the Alchemists Muse on deviantART. It's getting exciting guys! I can't wait to see all your reactions to what happens much, much later! Right now, you're probably just as confused as poor insane little Daniel! But that's okay, he'll understand what's happening to the world and himself later on! Right now, we're just setting the stage for the BIG moments of gasps and the possibility of wanting to throw whatever appliance you're using to read this against the wall. Hehe. I know, I'm evil! :3 LOVE ME! Okay, okay calm it down! CALM. It. Down…. yeah. I'm writing this at an ungodly hour. Why, you ask? Meh, why not? Well, just the author's note. **

**MsFrizzle- **

**Vlad is a chess master. He knows exactly were to move his knights, bishops, and especially his pawns. **

**Valerie and the GIW members have permits, licenses, and training to legally capture and work with/on ghosts. They can handle themselves in case of an emergency. An older gentlemen who has been crippled and his a very highly ranking member of society entering the cell of one of the GIW's most powerful ghosts is, well, i'm are you can see the flaw there. It'd be bad for everyone. **

**They don't think Phantom needs protection at all. He's a dangerous ghost. The only reason they keep him alive is because two reasons: A) the scientists love him because he's such an interesting specimen; B) he used to be a 'hero' so it'd look bad if they killed him unless he did something. The GIW knows Danny is trying to be good, but they also know his power is dangerous and he's just a kid so they lock him up for the safety of the innocent. **

**Kwan isn't naturally a bully. He picked on others to retain his popular status, but he was still a likable person and even hung out with Danny and his friends before. Thank you! Yep, you hit the nail right on the head my friend. **

**GIW is concerned with the safety of the innocent from ghost threats and although Danny Phantom acted as a hero, his power was at a dangerous keel and therefore it was unfitting to let him fly about the city. Plus, he hasn't gotten the best reputation over the years. When controlled by Freakshow he robbed banks and caused damage. No one knew it was because he was being controlled. He has threatened the old mayor, although he was overshadowed at the time and is was basically Danny being kidnapped. He causes property damage when fighting other ghosts…. the list goes on and on. It's not his fault, he's just got bad luck. As for everyone else i'm sure there are mixed feelings. But you know how it is. Like if someone is being tried on TV in a court case everyone picks a side whether the person being tried may or may not be a bad person they still hate them. There will be people like Sam and Tucker who knew Phantom, people like Paulina who will stick up for him, and people like Valerie who will hate his every molecule. **

**Thanks for your review! I hoped this helped!**

**Thanks for the reviews! If you have any questions send me a private message or ask it in the review and i'll get back to you! Note that I won't give you any spoilers! ;) Back my little AN. For the song I can not believe I didn't think of**

**this one before! XD WOW! Like wow the same word backwards and forwards! WOW! It's getting interesting. Especially with some of these characters. The mysterious character in the first two pages is someone I don't recognize (in the fancomic) so I had to improvise and I put my own little creation there. When you find out who he is you might just shiz yo pants. XD There are a few changes here and there. If you find them note they were intentional if you don't know what I'm talking about that's okay too. Anyway I hope you guys like R&R please! Thanks!**

_Humpty Dumpy sat on a wall. _

He sits there. Unable to breathe, unable to move. He just can't bear it anymore. He can't handle living anymore. But he hasn't got a choice. He can't die.

_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

It started the day he was taken. He knew it was over then. He just didn't want to accept it_. _Poking, always poking at him. He couldn't help but descend into the darkness that was inevitably laid before him.

_And all the king's horses and all the king's men,_

Who would reach out to him? He was a monster. He was a thing. He was a vapor. He wasn't even there. He was what was left. He didn't expect anyone to hold their hands out to him. He didn't wait for arms to be open wide for him. After all, who in there right mind would ever reach out to a phantom who isn't even there anymore?

_couldn't put Humpty together again._

_CRACK!  
_

Hear that? It's the sound of your mind slowly cracking. Want to know what happens next.

_SHATTER! _

**Chapter 6**

The mighty dragon looked down at the Phantom before him: weak, helpless- how pathetic.

It was hardly fun for it to be this easy.

And then there was that human scum. He looked out of the corner of his eye. The man was bleeding heavily from his head and slumped to the ground, unmoving. Dead, most likely.

"Hmph!" He said. _Good riddance. "_Now," he said, looking back at the Phantom under his claw, "you have something that doesn't belong to you." He pressed down on the boy's chest making him squirm and gasp for air. "And if not in it's owners hands, then it should be in mine!"

Phantom squeezed his eyes shut. He felt like a truck was being rolled over him. Over and over and over- "What… what are you talking about?!" He wheezed. "I don't…. understand!"

Suddenly the world was dark. He couldn't breathe but this time he didn't need to. He was suspended in time and therefore was nothing at all.

Was this another vision? Right now?!

It was like nothing he ever knew. He felt like his body was being tugged on. Suddenly he felt frantic. I voice called to him. A tone that he couldn't place but was so familiar he felt it on the tip of his tongue.

"Oh, is that so?" He heard the voice say. Suddenly he felt a being pinning him down from above. Who? See! I need to see!

"Well, half-dead one," it said, "I don't think that's true. LIAR!"

He couldn't hear. But this voice was there. But he couldn't hear. He knew he was screaming, his voice was hurting now, but he couldn't hear anything but the voice echoing in the silence.

Outside the barriers of his mind, Phantom was screaming bloody murder under Aragon. The dragon looked at him curiously. Was Phantom this weak and scared? He was barley crushing him. What a drama queen!

He chuckled. "What a pathetic weakling, you are! Hah!" He leaned down to get closer to the boy.

Phantom struggled more. "N-No! I-I didn't! NO!" He shrieked. Aragon looked at the halfa. It was no longer amusing. The ghost wasn't even paying attention to him, just screaming. "S-stay away form me!"

Aragon scoffed. "Your screams are pointless, half-ghost. Begging will do you no-" Phantom kicked the dragon under his chin just as his jaw was opening, forcing his teeth to bite his tongue.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He yelled.

Aragon staggered back, holding his jaw. Damn, that really hurt. The ghost child had that much power left in him? OW!

Phantom stumbled away from his attacker, falling to his knees. As he caught his breath the tried rationalizing with himself on just what the hell was going on. "..Huh….huh….uh….B-but I saw…It was just Aragon?" _I thought I saw…I thought he was…But it wasn't. _Phantom caught his breath. _Okay, okay. Get back in the game, Phantom. You're still in danger. _

Aragon was quite a melodramatic ghost. He was groaning, complaining about his tongue bleeding, and shaking his tail everywhere. Phantom watched as the giant lizards tail swooped down over where he was, he jumped over it and quickly made it out the door.

He paused seeing the body of a scientist outside his cell, bleeding. Was he dead? Phantom felt a tug in his chest. _Huh? Kwan? _

"You dare not escape me, Phantom!" Aragon hissed.

Phantom turned his head. "Uh oh." He dodged a swipe of Aragon's claw and ran down the corridor with the dragon hot on his trail.

Phantom turned into another hall. Aragon followed in close pursuit, his body slid to the side of the wall as he turned. His massive weight caused a loud boom to echo.

"You little thief!" He spat. "I will burn you to ASHES!"

_Ashes? _Phantom didn't stop running, but he turned his head to see the dragon arching back his long neck and sucking in air. "Wait. He's not gonna, oh man…. He is!"

Phantom skidded to a stop and quickly turned. He had to hurry before he was barbequed. The dragon let go his fire. Phantom could already feel the warmth getting closer on his cheeks. He grinned and quickly expanded his lungs and blew out ice. Phantom's frozen breath caused the fire to turn to steam. Aragon stepped back.

He led with his right shoulder and used his neck to search for the Phantom. Clever brat, he created a distraction. Aragon growled. "You can run but you won't escape me!" He hissed.

Down the corridor Phantom hid behind the corner, catching his breath. The eco-restraints really took their toll on his body. If a GIW agent caught him, he'd be done for. "Phew," he exhaled. He slumped down to the ground. "I hate this. All I can really do is run." _Not like I had a choice or anything. _Phantom peered around the corner. _If I stayed to fight, I would've lost. Big time. _

Phantom shifted in his restraints. _This stupid thing. With every single second it sucks my power away. I won't even be able to move here soon. There was no way I could pull off another attack. _Phantom rested his head in his knees. "This really, really sucks." He said. _If Aragon hadn't already been setting my ghost sense off… _He sighed.

Suddenly he thought of Kwan, lying there. Bleeding, helpless, possibly dead. Maybe he was just unconscious? Still, why was he thinking about it? What was he supposed to do? There was nothing for him to do! He could barley save himself.

"You should've tried to help him." A voice said. _Oh, no. Not this again._

_ "_Shut up," He told her, "It doesn't matter anymore." He shrugged.

Jazz glared at him. He felt almost homesick. She was nineteen...the last time he ever saw her. _Always a pleasure, aspirations of my mind._

"You should have tried!" She accused. "If you had, you wouldn't feel so guilty!"

_She isn't your sister, Phantom. She's just a vision of your craziness. _"Stop NAGGING me!" He yelled, closing his eyes.

Silence. That was unlike her. He opened an eye and saw nothing again. Just the GIW facility bases' white, white walls. "Hmph. And don't come back." He spat.

He was alone again. Phantom relaxed against the wall. It was so silent. No one had even been walking down the hall. He was alone, as usual.

"Hey, wait a sec," he thought. Alone but…. Free. "I'm out of my cell." He whispered. "Heh. Heh-heh, HA, Hahaha! IM OUT OF MY CELL!" He was laughing so hard his sides began to ache. He was shifting form side to side, almost as if he were dancing. "HAHAHAHAHA! LOOK AT ME! Haha! I'm not in my cell anymore! HAHHA! HEH HEH-"

_Ka-click_

"…heh?" Phantom paused, he knew that sound. He looked up to see a shaking trooper and Agent 13F pointing their weapons at him.

Phantom smiled nervously. "Aw crap."

**Supervisor Marshall's Office…**

_Oh I can not believe this! _Vlad Masters anxiously tapped the desk with his index finger. He'd been sitting there for a good long while now, and he was bored. _This was not part of my plans. _

_ "Civilians should stay where it's safe!" _Marshall said before heading out with his gun that had been paid for with Master's funding.

_That stupid Supervisor Marshall partially locked me in his office! _Vlad sneered. He looked ahead, his thoughts swimming as his eyes glared at the trooper. _Not to mention he left behind this single idiot to guard me. _

"Sir, why are you staring at me? It's kinda creepy." The trooper asked.

"Are you sure I can't simply leave to return to the ground floor?" Vlad asked, getting up form the chair. "Surely that would be just as safe."

The trooper shrugged. "Sorry, sir. My orders are very clear. For your own safety, you are not to leave this room." He said.

Vlad narrowed his eyes. He walked over to the covered window and lightly pulled up one of the slits. He peaked around the corner and suddenly gasped. "Ah! Oh, no!" He yelled, quickly backing away.

The trooper rushed over to Masters. "Sir?!" He looked outside the window. "What's wrong?" He asked, seeing absolutely nothing in the halls. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly he felt as if his body was having a spasm. Pain shot through his nerves. It was like being struck by lightning. The last thing he saw was a purple flash of light and then he blacked out.

The trooper fell to the floor and Vlad grinned. He didn't even have to morph to take him down. "I'm afraid those orders have been revoked." He said. Searching the troopers pockets he found the key.

"The Supervisor should be a little more careful about whom he gives his keys too." Vlad said, making his way to one of the walls "But then I guess I'd only make it more difficult for me." He stuck the key in and a deep came and a yellow light appeared where the key was stuck in. An opening in the wall appeared revealing a blue light and a small box. Vlad smirked and pocketed the item inside.

"I'm sure the Supervisors are very proud of having successfully coated the outside doors and hallway walls with a substance that prevents ghosts from phasing in." He said, picking up his hat off the desk. "But a word to the wise," Vlad made his way to the door, pausing for a mere second. "That only works if the ghosts can't phase _out _either!" He snickered as his body began to phase through the door. He smirked at the unconscious trooper on the ground. "Ta."


	7. Chapter 7

** Yeah! Back in bold, baby! Hope ya'll have enjoyed the story so far! It's so fun to write! I'm getting really excited about how it's turning out! WARNING: It's gonna be endless cliffies from here on out, my friends. Not like I was holding back with them before, I'm just going to try my best to make you guys wanna flip tables! Hahah! JK!...jk jk…please don't do that O-O I actually finished the last chapter early but like I said, Thursdays are my deadlines. And I know I posted a chapter yesterday, but I thought that day was Thursday! So, I'm gonna spoil you guys by giving you this chapter today as well. I'm like that crazy aunt who buys who presents before you're even born! . So it will be every Thursday unless something happens and I have to extend the deadline. This chapter is based off pages 131-147 of Asylum by the Alchemists Muse. BTW guys I did some digging, she's extended the story. It isn't very much like Asylum, but Danny still has that cray-cray personality. It's called Coliseum, I believe. It's in her gallery if you want to check it out. Also, if you have an idea for the next song, then leave it in the comments! It doesn't have to be a nursery rhyme. Hope ya'll like the next chapter! R&R! Please and thank you! LESS THAN THREE, GOOD READERS!**

_Mary, Mary-_

Her Royal Highness walks down the cobbled halls in prestige. Her chin is held high and her eyes are narrowed. She does what she does for the grace of her God.

_Quite contrary…_

Bloody, bloody Miss Mary. Oh what horrible things you do. She's made it to her destination: the torture chambers.

"Are you quite ready to end this suffering and cleanse your body with the holy water of faith? Are you ready to stop living in sin and offer yourself to the church? To God?" She asks.

He spits at her. She is taken aback. "How dare you." She hisses. "You will taste the fires of hell, demon!" And she walks away.

_How does your garden grow?_

"Stubborn, you always were." She says, keeling amongst the flowers. She slides her fingers down the sleek, gray slab. "But you didn't deserve this." She whispers. And she weeps by her late husband. Surrounded by the growing field of flowers and headstones.

_With silver bells…_

"AAAAGGHHHHHH!" The man screams. No, not a man. He's a kid. A stupid, stupid kid. Just shy of eighteen years old. He's in hot pain. Sweating buckets and weeping like a lost child.

_And cockleshells… _

The boy gasps for air. Torture….this is torture. His body is being ripped apart. What has he done? What did he do? Sin? What sin? Why? Why? Why?

_And pretty maids…_

She shines of silver.

She shines in the light.

She is the last thing they ever see.

Maiden of the bloody heads and of the silver shining light.

_All in a row._

The Queen, with blood on her lips, sitting dignified in her chair, sharing polite little lies, screams at the top of her lungs, "Off with their heads!"

Chop, chop, chop…. Chop.

**Chapter 7**

Valerie Gray ran through the halls of Asylum, the GIW Base for the study of ghost specimen. Madhouse would've been more like it, the way things were going now, how did this base ever function?

A ghost was lose, Phantom could be making a break for it, her boss was here, what else could go wrong?!

She farcically looked around. She had to get there before Phantom broke free! She rounded the corner when she stopped. One of the cell doors had been ripped open, the base was on fire…however it was green and didn't seem to be spreading. Wait, there was someone slumped on the ground. A scientist?

"Kwan!" She exclaimed, running to him. _Oh my God, is he... dead?_

She knelt by him and he groaned. "Kwan! Hey, come on! Wake up!" She shouted.

He opened his eyed. "Uh…huh? Valerie?" Suddenly his eyes widened and he clutched his sides. "AH! Ow! Oh…uh…my ribs!" He screamed.

"Your ribs?" Valerie asked. "What about your head?!"  
Kwan was still in a daze. Dizzily he put his hand to his head. "Huh? My head?" He felt something warm and sticky. He pulled his hand back and saw it covered in blood. "Oh, wow." He said. "That's why I feel my head throbbing." He sat up a little, digging his hands in his pockets.

Valerie pushed down on his shoulders. "Whoa! Don't move! The blood loss-"

"Hey…wait, it's okay." He said. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and showed her. "I've got these."

"Nanite injections? From the medical-repair unit?" She confirmed. She'd seen them before. In fact, she'd used them. Typically only hunters like herself and other military licensed members carried them around. Hardly something a civilian keeps in his lab coat pocket. They're very expensive. She gave him a look. "And you just happen to carry these around with you?"

"Yeah," he said, sticking himself with one of the injections. He winched a bit, although it didn't really hurt. "Supervisor Marshall makes everyone carry them… in case they get hurt."

Valerie eyed her friend, who didn't seem to really understand the situation. She shrugged it off. GIW was a place that got wonkier by the minute. She decided it wasn't worth looking into. "Well," She said, "I guess this proves that was a smart move, huh?" She offered. He just sat there, blankly. "You gonna be okay?" She asked, standing up.

Kwan recognized she had a mission to complete. She didn't need to stay with him any loner. She had a ghost to catch, two in fact.

"I'll be fine, the nanites will patch me right back up." He said. "It really looks worse than it is." He assured her, ripping his tie off, creating a self-made tourniquet for his head.

Valerie gave him another look.

"Really! Even shallow head injuries bleed a lot! Trust me! I played football!" He said.

"Okay, okay. Fine, I believe you. But now- wait. Hang on." She took a good look at the open wall. "Wait a sec." She said. She felt her hear beating a step faster. "Kwan, please don't tell me that… that used to be Phantom's cell?" She asked.

Kwan looked away. "Sorry, Val… it kinda is."

"That stupid ghost! He did all this?! When I get my hand son him I'm gonna-"

"It wasn't Phantom!" Kwan interjected. Valerie glared at him. "I'm serious! It was a ghost dragon!" He defended.

She gave him a curious look.

"Whether you think I'm crazy or my memory is messed up from the wall or something, I'm telling you the truth." He said, giving her a determined look. "It wasn't Phantom."

Valerie grumbled. "Whatever." She muttered under her breath. She turned and began walking down the hall. "A 'Ghost-Dragon'! Great!" She said. "It doesn't matter. All I need to know is that there is a rogue ghost loose in the facility and Phantom's cell is ripped wide open." Kwan grabbed her wrist.

"Val, wait!" He said. She looked at him. "I uhhh…. I've been doing some research and I need…. You're a hunter so you'd know…ummm…I just need to show you something." He said, letting her go. "But not here. In the facility, I mean."

"Okay, fine. The café on Riddick Street? You know it? It's in the south section of the city. It's the one with the manager who's got a really deep voice. " She said. Kwan nodded. "Meet up with me there tomorrow at 11:00am." She dashed off.

"O-okay! See you then!" He called after her. He watched as she disappeared behind a corridor and then brightly grinned. "It may be work related now, but at least it's a step closer to a real date!"

**Elsewhere in GIW Facility Base: Asylum…**

"UGH!" Agent 13F huffed as Phantom elbowed him in the gut, sending him to the ground. The agent hit his head on the wall, and the trooper fired.

Phantom dodged the blast. Barley. "Yikes!" He said. The trooper stood attentive, aiming his ray gun at Phantom.

Phantom stood there, wondering what to do. He couldn't use his powers, if he did he wouldn't have the strength to move anymore. Normally defeating these guys would've been just too easy, but he was almost helpless in this situation. He needed the battle to shift.

The agent began reaching for his gun that was by Phantom's foot. Phantom saw this, "Uh-uh, he said, "Not a chance!" And he quickly kicked the gun, lading it the trooper's face.

The trooper fell back, holding his nose, yelling and cursing.

_Just how hard was that kick? _Both Phantom and Agent 13F wondered. The agent quickly looked at Phantom who gave him a smirk and a chuckle. Phantom rammed his head against the agents, causing him to lose consciousness.

Phantom then ran to the trooper who turned just as Phantom jumped up and landed on the trooper's face with his knee, knocking out the poor sap.

Phantom looked over his shoulder and laughed. "Well, that was fun! Gotta go, bye!" He said.

He began running down the corridors. Faster and faster down the halls. Suddenly he felt sharp pain in his chest and he fell to his knees breathless. "UH!" _Dammit! This straightjacket keeps sucking up my powers! At this rate, soon I wont even be able to move. _He had labored breaths, trying to stand he slumped against the wall. Dizzy, almost. Strange…uh…what? _Oh….the not-real feeling is back again.._

Phantom pushed himself off the wall. He staggered back for a moment, then began to walk forward. Almost as if he were drunk, he began swaying from one end to the other, trying to walk down the halls. He couldn't afford to stop. He had to keep moving.

_Just…just keep.. _He gasped a bit, almost losing his balance_…just…walking. _He struggled to keep air._…just keep walking…and stuff…_

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum.. **

Vlad Masters had been wondering the base for too long. Were was he? Where was- hold it. What was that sound? It sounded like someone running down the hall?

Vlad quickly snuck behind a corner. Wait, the running stopped. It was replaced by heavy breathing. Could he have come to him?

He heard the stranger pass by and he peeked from around the corner. Ah, it was. Daniel had come right to him. Vlad smirked. How delicious.

Masters morphed into Plasmius, almost laughing thinking of his plans for the young halfa. "Found you!"

**Elsewhere in Asylum… **

Phantom staggered in the halls. He had to stay focused. He had to keep going. Visions….crap….they were coming back.

_Oh look, the dancing cactus is back. _

Phantom watched as the sombrero-wearing cactus shook those maracas like they were on Mexico Beach, baby! Phantom slumped up against the wall and watched for a moment.

Suddenly, the door swished open. "Door?" He asked. Phantom looked at the darkness within for several seconds then shrugged. "Okay, why not?"

The second he walked in the door slammed behind him. He bolted upright. "Hey!" Then paused. Where was he? It looked like a big college room. "Wha? Whoa….big room."

"It's been a long time." A chillingly familiar voice said. "Elven years, I believe? Well, I suppose it doesn't really mater." Phantom spun around. The ghost waved at him and gave a wicked grin. "Hello, Daniel."

Phantom felt his body shake a bit. He frowned, looking at the floor. It looked as if he were about to have a breakdown any second. Then he looked up at the figure and gave a grin too big for his face, his eyes wild. "Hi, Plasmius!"


	8. Chapter 8

**It's that time of the week! Woot woot! Being ahead of schedule is nice for a change. I'm gonna have to work hard to keep up after TAM's fan comic ends! PLUS SHE LEAVES US WITH A MAJOR CLIFFIE! Oh man! I love a challenge! Tingling with excitement over here! XP This chapter is based off pages 148-169 of Asylum by The Alchemists Muse on deviantART. Alrighty then! To the questions because I totally forgot to answer them all last week! SORRY! Here they are!**

**kuro-omaki13- You're viewing it like a barrier, as if the chemical agent were like ice over a frozen lake: no one can get in or out. But I think it's more like a two-way mirror. The person on one side can see in, but the people on the other side can't see out. Hope this helped. And thank you! I'll try my best to not let you down!**

**danny FANtom- You'll learn what Aragon is talking about later. For now its all a mystery! XD**

**jim89- Yeah, it is a one-sided thing. Exactly! Works one way! Guess the GIW didn't think about ghosts phasing out, did they? **

**His parents don't know Phantom and Danny are one in the same. They think their son went missing eleven years ago and like Valerie suspect Phantom might have had something to do with it. The GIW would let them visit Phantom because they are licensed hunters. So far they haven't taken up that opportunity. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz know that Danny was captured, but they may not know where he was taken. As for Dani, who knows where she is. She might not even know her cousin went missing. Or could she be looking for him? Don't worry, you'll find out eventually! **

**Thanks! You make me blush! Yep they will slowly be answered, but more and more questions shall arise! I hope you enjoy what I have in store! It just might blow your mind!**

**MsFrizzle- I always look forward to your review! Thank you so very much for your critiques! I hope I've improved! **

**Youre welcome! I'll always help out anyway I can for my readers! Yeah, poor Danny. Of course, the insanity doesn't help. But the public doesn't really know about GIW Facility Base: Asylum. They know about the GIW, but not really about it's facilities. Hunters, workers, and members do, but civilians are kept in the dark for their own protection. Imagine an animal rights activist, now make them a ghost-rights activist. If they knew about Asylum then they'd be all over that. But putting a dangerous criminal in jail, no one really bothers to care. They sure are sneaky, aren't they? Still, I'm sure there are those people who sit in their basements trying to find alien evidence that you can equate to the guy who sit in his basement trying to find GIW ghost secrets….**

**Phantom's mind has been cracked, basically. Although it may be gone beyond human repair, he can still use it. It's like victims of subdural hematoma; sometimes the damage causes a change in them that can never be rehabilitated. **

**They don't expect ghosts to get inside their rooms. If a ghost were to escape the confinement of their cells, they imagine all they need is to but non-fighters in the rooms to safety so the ghosts can phase in and hurt them. They don't think that a ghost will already be inside the rooms. I suppose it's also expensive. So they only do what is necessary or practical. But looks like it would've come in handy, no? My question is how is Vlad going to explain himself here? He can't phase back in the room and he can't leave else it raises the question on how he got out without unlocking the door. Guess we shall just have to wait and see. The nanites have been tested by the science division already. But the GIW has anybody working in the field carry them around for emergencies. As for Aragon he's a little lost right now. Lol. It's a big facility. But don't worry, he shall return!**

**InfectedElite- Dude, it says 'suspense' on the genre. You set yourself up for cliffies. And guess how this chapter ends? :D And also, seriously, man? Why are you calling me a 'dick'? :( Besides, we've ALL read those stories. I know, I hate it when that happens too. To put it simply, get over it. Anyway, I plan on finishing this story and it will have a shock and awe factor and I plan to leave you on the edge of your seat, wanting more, until the very end. But thanks. I'm glad you've enjoyed it this far despite the dreaded cliffhangers. I believe chapter 10 was when she stopped, so chapter 11 will begin my original work. However, she has an OC that appears in the next chapter(Chapter 9) whom I will replace with my own OC, I shall explain all that jazz in the next chapter's author's note. Hope you enjoy the story. I won't let you down, so trust me, okay? **

**Guest User- Er? Who? No, none of those ghosts like each other…like…at all…. But wow! Someone pays attention! Yep, you're right! But that is in the series. I'll explain why she doesn't know about Vlad later. And no, she shouldn't. Since at least two ghosts are running rampant in the facility, a licensed ghost hunter has more to worry about than her employer who is already being guarded by GIW members. After all, he was with the Supervisor so she has every reason to assume he is safe. But the ghost need to be dealt with before they make their way into the city and hurt innocent civilians.**

**draken14142- Every Thursday I update! ^.^ I love to see readers excited for the next chapter! Thank you! **

** Thanks to all who reviewed! I love reading my reader's words! 3 I would hug you all if I could! . But send me a private message or leave in the reviews any questions or suggestions you have! Critiques are totally appreciated! Don't be afraid to tell me where i'm weak, it's how I improve! Thanks for reading! **

_It's raining…_

Is it? Is it really? How would he know? He's been locked up for the last eleven years.

_It's pouring…_

That sounds sad. He feels…sad. Why is he so sad? This song…it's so….sad….sad….

_The old man is snoring…_

Ah, snoring. He wishes he could sleep. Dreaming. Oh, a dream. Wouldn't a dream just be wonderful? Wouldn't it just make him feel warm and numb inside?

_He went to bed…_

Bed….he used to have a bed. He used to have a room. Nothing like this empty white four-padded cell with nothing but a small, dangling light that flickers in a rhythm. Rhythm…has he mentioned the beat? It, perhaps, just might be in synch with the old man's snoring.

_And bumped his head…_

Ouch…memories gone. Pain. He always remembers the pain. Even if his entire soul tingles with numbness, he remembers the pain..always…always…

_And couldn't get up in the morning…_

Phantom sits lonely and silently wonders to himself if the sleeping old man's funeral was nice or if the black lace stuck to their wet skin, causing rosy-red rash.

**Chapter 8**

The big room reminded Phantom of school. All the rows and chairs stacked high, and then the giant white-board. Then there was the podium. It was almost like the assembly hall with raised seating. What was this room for? Briefings? Meetings? A class? What like Ghost Hunting 101?

Plasmius gave Phantom a raised brow. The child had been rather good at accepting his presence. He seemed clam and unalarmed. However, that crooked grin made him uneasy. Unlike anything he expected, _maybe this prison had matured the boy? _

"Heh…" Phantom chuckled. He then began to suck in a lot of air.

_Or maybe not, he was still up to his childish antics!_

"I wouldn't do that!" He yelled. Vlad gave an uppercut and hit Phantom under his chin. Phantom was thrown back. "With those ectorestraints still on, do you want to be drained completely of power?"

Phantom felt his back hit the podium and the wind knocked out of him. He slumped down and took in a sharp gasp of air. When he looked up, Plasmius was kneeling right in front of him.

"But," he said, "If you morph back to your human form first, I'll help you out. How about it?" Vlad grinned.

"No." Phantom said with a scowl.

Plasmius gave him a curious look. "Why not?" He asked. "There are no surveillance cameras in this room." He assured.

Phantom smiled. "Well, I guess because… I don't want to die." He said.

Vlad widened his eyes with an innocent look. "Oh?" Phantom stared back at him with a solid look. Vlad scoffed and gave him an unhappy grin. "Ah. So, you knew about that?" He asked, floating up in the air.

Phantom stood up. "I…know a lot of stuff." He said, looking at the floor. His eyes almost seemed hollow. "Stuff I shouldn't be able to know. Like…about _you,_ Vlad." He looked Vlad and gave him a sharp and alert look in his eyes.

_He changes so fast…what is wrong with him? I can't keep up with what he's thinking. _Vlad prided himself on knowing his opponents next move. But that proves difficult when your open is mentally unstable and highly unpredictable.

"You've got a scar behind your left ear from when you fell out of a tree when you were eight." He said as-a-matter-of-fact. His eyes got cocky and he seemed unlike himself. "And…. there's a bottle of some wine called 'Chateu LaFite' you keep hidden in your library for when your finally appointed to be the Governor of the Amity District, wherever that is. Oh, and your middle name is Sebastian."

Vlad felt flustered. "W-what? How did you- I mean! HMPH! You could've learned those things from an interview, or something!" He said, stuttering a bit.

Phantom shut his eyes. "And I also know because I haven't eaten or drank anything in the last eleven years, if I turned back to my human self, I'd die instantly."

Vlad put his hand on his chin. The boy's powers were quite curious. And he has changed, especially in looks. He obviously doesn't take very good care of himself, of course, it would be hard with that straightjacket binding him, so the GIW must not care about the hygiene of their captured specimens. "Yes, that's right. Well, I have a different question for you, Daniel. Do you have any idea what you look like?"

He cocked his head to the side. "What I look like? I suppose I look different now, right? But I haven't seen myself in a mirror-" He paused and suddenly started shaking. "Mirror….before…ah…no..NO!" Suddenly the Phantom looked frightened. Excuse the pun, almost as if he'd seen a ghost. Or rather, saw his ghost self…in the future, all those years ago. The night he began to have insomnia. "NO! No, I didn't see... Anything! NOTHING!" He yelled frantically.

The young man trembled before Masters, his eyes full of fear. What was this? He said 'mirror' and suddenly clammed up. "Uhhh, yes," Vlad cleared his throat. "Anyway-" he lifted Phantom's chin with his fingers, looking into the boy's eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know why the change happened? Haven't you ever wondered about it?"

Phantom's eyes went blank. "….Why?"

Vlad leaned in and whispered in the younger halfa's ear. "You changed because-" He almost chuckled as he told him. It caused Vlad a tingle sensation knowing what this information meant to the child.

Phantom's eyes widened. _W-what did he just say?! Then that means…_

"This is something that has only happened to you and me." Vlad said gravely. "No one else."

It was true. The only other halfa known to Phantom was Dani, and she was his clone. She wasn't changed into a half-ghost; she was 'born' that way. Sadly, it meant he and Vlad were the only two in that same boat.

Phantom looked away, his shoulders fell. "Was it the same…for you?" He asked. Before Plasmius could answer, Phantom interrupted. With a blank expression he said, "Oh... Aragon's gonna break down that door if you don't let him in." He said, nodding his head to the door.

Vlad raised a brow. "Huh? What are you-"

_WHAM!  
_Suddenly, the dragon began fiercely trying to force his way in.

"I told you so." He said.

Vlad spun on his heals and stomped over to the door. "Oh for crying out loud!" He yelled. As he fumbled around in his pockets for the key he muttered to himself. "How the hell did Daniel know?"

He unlocked the door and Aragon bended back the door, crushing it, and Plasmius quickly dodged the dragon's head as he forced his way inside.

"Ah, Prince Aragon," Plasmius said, caustically making his way over. He gave the dragon a polite smile through the grit of his teeth. "I don't suppose you'd consider using more _faience _in the future? Hmm?"

Aragon made his way through the door, entering the large room and letting his body exhale, stretching his neck and slightly opening his wings. He glared down at Vlad. "Watch your tongue, Sir Plasmius." He barked. "It almost sounded as if you were telling I, a prince, should act."

Vlad nervously shook is hands in a apologetic gesture. "OH, NO! Me? Not at all! NEVER!" He blustered out.

Phantom looked at Plasmius curiously. _Vlad sure is a kiss-up. He always was. What are they planning?_

Plasmius cleared his throat. "Ahem. Anyway," He said, folding his arms, "I seem to remember that we have business to take care of." Both ghosts looked at Phantom who was momentarily lost in his thoughts.

"Huh?...wait…" He asked. _Why would Vlad bring Aragon? Unless! _"Oh, man!" He exclaimed, turning on his heels and began running as Aragon opened his jaws and swiped at him with his claw. "HEY!" He yelled, dodging the attack. "Wait a sec! I"M NOT EDDIBLE!" Phantom shrieked.

Plasmius flew in front of Aragon's mouth and the dragon paused. "Prince Aragon, might I request you for one moment?" He asked.

"Why?! Did you not say earlier that we should do anything necessary to regain _it _from the Ghost-Child?" Aragon asked, glaring at Vlad. "Well?"

Vlad grinned and rubbed the stubble on his chin. "Well, originally, yes, but by pure luck I came across a very interesting item." He said. He produced a remote control from his coat and smirked. "It seems I have found the control for Daniel's restraints," he continued, and chuckled to himself. "And, well, I've never been really good at sharing."

Vlad hit a small button on the remote and Phantom's snaps on his straightjacket instantly popped off. _Huh…just like that? _Vlad thought. _Heh…too easy!_

Phantom felt the sudden release of pressure on his arms. The restraint on his body was completely gone. "Huh?" He asked. Although his straightjacket was still on, the ectorestraints binding him had been released. Suddenly, he felt his power rushing back to him. It tingled, almost hurt a little. It was like when a part of your body that fell asleep is waking up.

Aragon turned on Vlad, growling at him. "Plasmius! What do you think you are doing?!" He snapped.

Vlad whistled casually as he put the controller back in his coat's pocket. He looked at Aragon and smiled. "Did you really think I'd let you get your claws on _it? _Please. You've served your purpose." He reared his cape and began to disappear into a red swirl. "Place nice, now!" And he vanished, only his laugher momentarily echoed through the walls.

Phantom shifted a bit "My straightjacket…" He said…._What….what is this? It's new…..but familiar in a way…something…it a word…a big complicated word….it's a good word…what is it? It's on the tip of my tongue!_

Aragon growled. "Plasmius, you traitor!" He scoffed.

"Hey, ghosts!" A voice yelled. Aragon turned his head over his wings to see a woman in a red and black high-tech hunter suit standing in the doorway. Her suit began generating a cube of red energy in her hand. "You didn't plan on starting the party without me, did you?"

The dragon didn't bother to move. He just gave a low growl. _How annoying this is becoming._

"You're gonna pay for what you did to Kwan and those troopers!" Valerie vowed and began to talk forward.

"When will these ridiculous interruptions end?!" Aragon shouted.

Phantom looked at the ground. _That word…that beautifully complicated word…_"Hey, Val…." He said. "Look." He smiled at her, kicking something over to her. _FREEDOM! _

Valerie's suit analyzed the small snaps. "Wait, those.." She paused. "Those are the clips to your restraints!" She yelled.

Her scanners were going nuts! _Power level at 3.2…7.4….11.6! His power….it's rising drastically! 15.8! What is this guy?! _

Phantom's power began deteriorating the straightjacket and the boy fought against the fabric, tearing it. He was releasing massive amounts of ghost energy, his body practically glowing an iridescent green.

"Oh, no you don't!" Valerie shirked, running at him.

"I will devour you and _it _together!" Aragon roared.

Phantom snickered. "Heh…..too slow." Both were blown back by Phantom's sudden release of energy. A large, green flame erupting from his body.

Valerie covered her eyes with her arm and took a step back. "AGH! Dammit!" She cursed.

Aragon watched the flame, glaring intently at the Phantom. He slightly opened his wings as a reflex. _Flight instinct? No! Fight! I…..I wont run!...this power? Where is it all coming from? _

Phantom tore off the remains of his jacket, he felt his ghost sense slightly go off, and he stood there in the flames of green energy feeling more alive than he had in eleven years. He casually looked at his hands, they were glowing green with power. Just like they always did. He clenched his fist and smirked.

"Y-you think this changes anything?! You are wrong! I WILL DEVOUR YOU!" Aragon roared.

Phantom looked up at Aragon and smiled. "Wow….you know what? …I feel pretty good right now." He said. With one swipe, Aragon was thrown on his backside. His massive body slammed against the floor, but Aragon wasn't the only threat today.

"Haha! I can use my arms!" Phantom said joyously. A blast of anti-ecto red energy nearly hit him and he remembered- Valerie was still here.

"W-what was that for?" He asked innocently.

Valerie produced two cubes, one in each hand. "Straightjacket or no straightjacket, I'm not gonna let you escape!" She said.

She fired at Phantom, who reverted to his ghostly tail and slithered past the blasts like a snake. He scowled at her.

"Yeah, well-" Suddenly he seemed to disappear. Valerie frantically looked around. "I think _that _is a bigger problem than me." He said, popping up behind Val and pointing ahead.

Valerie felt a shiver rush up her spine as Phantom snuck behind her. "Huh?!" _When did he? _She looked ahead and saw Aragon recovering from Phantom's last attack. "Oh, 'that'." She agreed. _If Phantom wanted me dead he could've done it already…or maybe he can't? It's been awhile since he could use his powers. Still, Phantom seems to believe this ghost dragon is the main enemy. _She noticed, Phantom glaring at the dragon. _It's like I'm not even here to him. What's with Phantom?_

Aragon reared his head back, sucking in air. Phantom remembered this attack. He widened his eyes.

Phantom pushed Valerie back. "VAL, MOVE!" He screamed.

"Uh!" She said, hitting the ground. "That the hell do you mean 'move'?" She snapped, looking up to see the mighty dragon blow out a green fire, like the flames she saw before. Hot…the fire was so hot.

Valerie felt the air knocked out of her. Her eyes widened and her heart raced. She sat there on the ground, helpless, as Phantom began to get devoured in the flames.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, readers! I actually have a few dilemmas here. 1) Do you want me to keep using nursery rhymes? I thought about ceasing this practice after chapter 10, but I wasn't sure. 2) I really, really need a Beta Reader. So if you want to be a Beta for this story or if you'd like to suggest one, that'd be very much appreciated. Please help me out here! 3) You want me to keep doing Q and A's? Like are the author's notes too long? I can totally stop if it gets annoying. Just leave me your answer in the reviews if you want or send me a private message. Thanks. This chapter is based off pages 170-187 of Asylum by The Alchemists Muse on deviantART. So, I know there is a certain character some of your are expecting to see, if you've read the fancomic, Onic, who is her very own OC(original character). Because Onic is not my own OC, it didn't feel right to use him because I'd be using him in later chapters and I don't want to change her OC's personality. So, I've stuck my own OC in there in his place. On to the questions and answers!**

**KuriMaster13- It's over nine THOUSANNDDDDDDDD! Hahahah! All right, just kidding! I don't even know! A LOT! I guess. XD I did, however, rise his power level in increments of 4.2. **

**Jim89- No kidding I legit laughed when I saw "given that his mind is on permanent vacation"! XD With your permission I'd like to possibly use that later! Oh no way! You'll keep getting answers and then you'll get more questions! It's just gonna get deeper from here. The plot thickens duh-duh-dunnn! **

**MsFrizzle- CRAP! This is why I need a beta, thanks for telling me. Yeah, I always miss something. .**

**Thanks to all who reviewed! I love knowing you guys enjoy the story! If you have any questions, comments, critiques, suggestions, or anything of the kind feel free to send me a private message or leave it in the reviews! Thanks, guys! Please enjoy this chapter!**

_Jack be nimble,_

It's the 16th century. Phantom can feel it. He just knows what's going on somehow. Again, no one notices he is standing there. A young girl walks by.

"Miss?" He asks, reaching out his hand, but she walks away. He isn't even there.

Quickly he spins around, his body knowing what's going to happen and his mind reacting for he, himself has the slightest clue. A man is running and several authorities are chasing him.

He's running…. on the rooftops.

_Jack be quick,_

Black Jack: A notorious pirate known for evading authority.

But how does he know that?

Jack leaps from roof to roof as if it were nothing. He's moving so fast. Phantom races after him.

The sea…he's trying to make it to the sea. His ship.

But he doesn't expect the next roof to collapse under him.

_Jack jump over the candlestick. _

"Any last words, Jack?" One of the men asks.

"Aye." He says.

"Speak then, pirate." He spits.

Jack smiles, his teeth rotted, and his breath smelling of rum. "A short life, but a merry one."

With a drop of a hand, the floor drops, and Jack swings.

…. a flash of white light and Phantom is standing in the streets, unseen. Children are jumping in line over a small candle and chanting:

_Jack be nimble!_

_ Jack be quick!_

_ Jack jump over the candlestick!_

They innocently laugh and giggle. It's so horribly pure that Phantom finds himself laughing along with them.

**Chapter 9**

The fire cracked and sizzled with its ghostly greenish blue glow. The huntress watched as the fire consumed everything. Phantom disappeared into the flames.

_That…that was almost me…_

Aragon cocked back his head and laughed in triumph. "Hahahahaha! Burn! Burn, you wretch! Burn until nothing but _it _remains!"

"Nah, I don't think I will." Both Valerie and Aragon immediately looked into the fire. The flames began to die down to reveal a blue ecto-energy sphere with Phantom safely smiling inside.

Valerie stood up, backing off a few feet. Was she right? Was that voice really him?

Aragon widened his eyes. _Impossible! I saw my flames devour him!_

Phantom grinned and looked up at Aragon. "You see, it sounds rather painful." _Weird…_Phantom released his energy sphere and the fire was extinguished. _It's been eleven years but…I still know how to use my powers so easily…_Phantom leaped back to Valerie's side. "It's so easy!" He exclaimed.

Aragon growled. How dare that punk call him easy! "You'll regret mocking me!" He snarled.

Suddenly one of Aragon's scales fell and hit the floor with a click.

Valerie lifted her brow. "His scale fell off?" Phantom looked at it curiously. It seemed darker than all the other scales on his body, maybe because it was in a different light?

Wait… was it… growing? It almost oozed into a bubbling puddle of black goo. A dark haze began rising from the dark gunk. It had a sickening smell of chemicals and poison and made Valerie and Phantom's face's flush and gave them an ill feeling in their stomach. Phantom thought for a moment: this smell was…. familiar.

"Alright, I think that's enough." It said.

Valerie's eyes widened. Phantom turned his head to her. "The scale is talking, Val!" He said, pointing at it.

"Uhh…yeah….it is.." She said, dumbfounded.

Aragon bowed his head down at the rising goop. The fumes began to stiffen and the goo got thicker. It rose to be almost knee length with Valerie. "Plague! What do you mean by that?" He asked.

Phantom's ears perked up. _Plague?!… That voice, that smell… Plague…is it really him?_

The goop then burst into a cloud of gas that smelled of formaldehyde. The air around it sighed. "Really, Aragon." It said. When the gas cleared it revealed a young-looking gentleman with a black overcoat. He straightened up his back and tipped his top hat. His thin, black hair was tied back in a sleek ponytail. He had gloves and laced boots. He looked almost ad if he could've popped out from the Victorian age. His eyes were cold and gray, and his face was young and handsome. He didn't look like a ghost; he looked… human. "Even with Plasmius' betrayal, if you had followed the plan we would've been done by now!" He scolded. Englishman… he has a British accent.

The dragon looked away shamefully. "It-it's not so simple," he whined. "Much happened and-"

"Plasmius? Who is this guy? WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL YOU GHOSTS COMING FROM?!" Valerie yelled.

Plague glared at Aragon pointed to Valerie. "See? _She _shouldn't even be here. And now you have forced me to reveal myself." He shook his head. "So problematic!" He stamped down his cane and sighed. "And so," he said, swinging his cane and breaking Aragon's necklace with the hidden blade at the end of his cane. The amulet shattered into tiny pieces on the floor. "I have decided to end our actions here!"

Aragon looked at what was left of his amulet in horror. "MY AMULET! NOOOOO!" He roared, slowly beginning to morph back into his ghostly human form. "No! This can't be-" He finally shrank back down to size, on his knees, holding the remains of his amulet. "My amulet! My power!" He whimpered. He almost wept for a moment as he cradled what was left of his amulet. He looked up at glared at Plague, snarling at him as if he were still a ruthless dragon. "How dare you do this, Plague!" He growled.

Valerie produced her anti-ecto cubes again, ready to fight. _If I'm going to attack, now's my chance! _Suddenly Phantom put his arm out in front of her. "Hey! What are you doing?" She snapped.

Valerie paused when she saw him trembling there. He looked positively horrified. "Wait…" he whispered to her. _Why does he look so freaked out? Whatever, this is Phantom… there's no telling what he's thinking… "_Just…just wait…" He said again. _His face… it almost looks as if he's in pain. Does he know this Plague guy?_

Plague knelt down by Aragon, who was practically in tears. "You're making an awfully big fuss over this." He said mockingly.

Aragon looked up at him with pure rage in his eyes. "I am the Prince Aragon!" He shouted. "Even if you are one of _his _'Great Four' you had no right to-" Aragon was cut off by the grasp of Plague's bare hand against his exposed neck. He tightened his grip on Aragon's neck.

"I think it's time you learned your place, bug." Plague said, almost laughing as he did. He released Aragon and stood up, turning his back. Plague put back on his glove and smiled under his mask.

Aragon grasped his neck. "N-no! Plague! D-did you just-?!" Then he couldn't talk anymore. Dark black lines appeared where Plague had grabbed his neck. His veins began to become a dark, thick black and suddenly his body began to latterly rot. His flesh began to peal, revealing his delicate light green dermis and ectoplasm blood. He looked down at his hands, the skin gone. "Plague!" He screamed, reaching out his hand. "Please! I beg of you! The antidote, quickly!"

Valerie put her hand over her mouth. She'd never seen anything like this before. She felt sick. "Oh my God!" She screamed.

"Antidote?" Plague asked, cocking his head. "What gave you a foolish idea such as that?" He chuckled.

He opened his mouth to scream, but his teeth began to fall out one by one and he trembled. His body was melting off his bones. His jaw stretched down to his chest and Aragon fell to the floor.

"Such a pathetic fool." Plague muttered. He produced a match form his coat pocket and used his thumbnail to light it, producing a purple flame. "There is no such thing as an antidote for a virus!" He hissed, throwing the flame on Aragon's body. "Oh, well, I suppose you can't hear me now. Can you?"

Plague swiftly turned his head to Phantom and cocked his head. "You." He said. In and instant he appeared before Phantom, who arched his body back away from Plague. "Since I'm here, let's have a chat!" He said.

Valerie armed herself with her cave cannons. "Chat about this!" She said. Suddenly they froze over, as did the lower part of her body and her arms. "What the hell?!" She yelled, glaring at Phantom. She once again found herself pausing for him. Scared…. Real fear. He was shaking, but this time was different. He was…protecting her?

He looked at her. Hopelessness was in his eyes. "Please, Val….don't." He pleaded. He looked back at Plague.

"As I was saying before the lass interrupted- Do you remember me, Phantom?" He asked.

Phantom looked down at the ground. "…Yes…" He choked out. "Yes, I remember you." He said, clutching his chest. Suddenly the memory flooded back to that night. The night he meet Plague.

He held back the vomit trying to escape form his stomach. Of course, he hadn't eaten in eleven years so it was mostly just bile. That night..

_It was horrible! How long ago was it? Not too long before the GIW finally got me. Seventeen…I was seventeen, right? Jeez, it's so hard to remember. But I do remember the pain and the fear. _

"I…remem..agh!" He doubled over. _Oh God! _Phantom began violently choking, but nothing came out. _This pressure in my chest!_

"I see!" Plague exclaimed, almost jubilant. "Excellent! And here we thought your mind might had surely disintegrated entirely!" He advanced on Phantom and grabbed his wrist with his free hand, freely swinging his cane in the other. Phantom noticed Plague was no taller than Valerie, but this short man was quite intimidating. "So now, let me tell you something. What we have started all those years ago," Plague closed in, pulling Phantom down to his level, "We intend to finish! So stay in one piece, you **abomination**!"

Phantom wriggled free of Plague's grasp and rubbed his wrist. Plague jabbed his finger into Phantom's chest. "Understand?" He asked. Before Phantom could reply a beam of anti-ecto energy shot at the two ghosts. Plague unnaturally twisted his body to avoid the impact.

He spun his head over to the door. "Who did that?!" He snapped.

Supervisor Marshall stood in the gaping hole armed with an anti-ecto cannon. "As directed on page 157, article 4, paragraph 8, " he said, "As an escaped captive ghost and an unidentified ectoplasmic intruder, I am entitled to open fire if one of you even twitches!"

Plague sighed and smacked his hand on his forehead. "Oh, dear."

Phantom was still shaking when Valerie turned her head to the Marshall, her body still frozen in place. "Hey, Supervisor!" She yelled. "Help me get out of this stuff!" He fired a blast at the ice, which shattered and caused Valerie to lose her balance. Her arms flailed about in the air. "Whoa! Hey wait!" She screamed, as she fell on her backside. Looking up at the ceiling she said, "Yeah, thanks a lot…"

Marshall fired another blast in Plague's direction, which he managed to dodge again. He slid his thumb and index finger across the brim of his hat. "Hmm, this is getting out of hand." He said. He seemed to grow taller against the wall and thinner too, almost as if he were merging into his own shadow. He began to disappear into the darkness. "Another time, then." And enveloped himself in the blackness.

Supervisor Marshall aimed the ray-cannon. "Miss Gray, is your ecto-scanner able to locate the unidentified ghost?"

She looked at her wrist scanners. Nothing. "Ah- I don't get it. My scanner pick up his signal at all. He just…vanished!" It didn't make any sense. What just happened with all those rogue ghosts. After all that, at least they had Phantom still in their grasp.

Marshall aimed the gun at Phantom's head. "Surrender quietly, Phantom, or I'll vaporize you." He threatened.

Just then Valerie noticed him shaking. Not that it was unusual for him to look so freaked out, but this was odd. Ever since this battle began Phantom had been genuinely frightened. She shrugged it off. What would it matter? He's a ghost in a GIW facility, even Phantom has the right to be scared of that.

Phantom was shaking... horribly. It was if he had no control of his body. He felt the world get fuzzy and it melted under him. "I…this is..ah-" He feel to his knees and slumped over.

"Smart choice. Stay where you are." Supervisor Marshall said.

The adrenaline pumping in his body was gone. Phantom felt the soreness of unused muscles being forced to push themselves come at him in full throttle. Even breathing was a chore. Tired…sleepy…so sleepy. He felt so groggy. He could take a nap, really. The GIW would just carry him back to his cell. But a voice was calling to him. In the back of his mind a voice was screaming in a whisper.

_No…sleep…don't sleep….don't fall asleep….don't….no…._

_Why not? _He asked the voice.

_No..sleep…no sleep…don't….stay awake…fight….no…sleep….no..no_

_Insom-screw it…I'm tired….I WANT to-_

_Nooooooo-_

_Shut…up…I'm…so-…._

_You'll die._

_I'm already half-dead…._

_Die…_

_So?_

_So will she._

Phantom quickly opened his eyes. He began to fight the darkness dragging him down. It was like drowning in a vat of thick, black liquid. He couldn't grab anything to take hold of, he couldn't bring himself up, all he could do was kick and scream until his body went numb and he succumbed to the darkness.

The light. There was a light in his eyes. It flickered like the light in his cell. Trying it's best to stay alive. But eventually all light bulbs have to be replaced…replaced…was he being replaced? By what? Stay awake….he can't sleep. Why? …..Fear… the fear will swallow him up like quicksand.

The world was getting hazy. At this point it was beyond his control. His muscles were sore from kicking and screaming, that darkness was coming for him. The fear was advancing in to rip him apart molecule by molecule.

"Miss Gray, use your suit to send a message to Agents 22B and 22A to report to the lecture hall immediately and put Trooper Units 2 and 5 on standby." Marshall ordered. His voice was quitter than usual. Did the lights dim? Was it getting darker?

"Yeah, alright. Hold on a sec." Valerie said. The room was almost in darkness, her voice was in a hushed sound.

_Valerie…run…._ _I…. I'm falling into the fear…_

"Okay, the message has been sent." She said so far away. Darkness….the room was…gone.

_Valerie….i'm sorry. But I can't fight anymore….. I'm sorry._

Phantom grabbed the end of Marshall's gun and he jumped in surprise. He heard the end of the gun being crushed by the strength of Phantom's hand. The ghost looked up at Marshall, his eyes two empty black pools.


	10. Chapter 10

**Yo! This is the finial chapter! Thanks for reading! **

**It was really fun writing this you guys! I really enjoyed it. Too bad it is over….**

**Just kidding! XD But this is the last chapter that The Alchemists Muse ever wrote for Asylum. Here are the pages: 188-204. 205 was her official discontinuation page. Don't worry I WILL be continuing it****. Okay! On to the questions!**

**KuriMaster13- Oh good. I'll keep the QnA then. I'll just try to keep it short! ^.^**

**Kuro-omaki13-It was "NDG" on one part of the panel and "ING" on the other. I guess it was either the sound of Danny winching or maybe the sound of Onic's gloves against Danny's suit? **

**MsFrizzle- Jack be Quick was published around the 1790's era. But it is believed to be about a notorious pirate named Black Jack who had a knack for evading the authorities in the 16****th**** century. The Ring Around the Rosie rhyme dates to the 17****th**** century when the Bubonic Plague or the Black Death swept London and killed over 60% of the population. The Black Plague killed over a fourth of the English population. I wasn't sure if you guys were enjoying the rhymes, but they are important. Another character mentioned the rhymes in Danny's head later. This character will also tell you why his mind keeps taking "historical trips". The same character will tell you about Plague and his relationship with Danny. Wow! How important is this person, right?! Most of the rhymes have a true historical background to them. You'll see why later. **

**Thanks again to all who reviewed! You know the spiel: if you have a question or something leave it in the reviews or send me a private message. Hey, despite all this craziness, I'm pretty friendly. I only bite on days ending with Y! Kidding, if you are curious about something, anything, involving me, Asylum, or something along those lines then please don't hesitate to ask! Please note that I will be joining a friend for a trip over the holiday and will not post a chapter on the usual Thursday. So when I don't post CH11 it isn't because I quiet it's because I can't post the chapter yet. I love hearing from you guys! You're all so amazing! THANKS! Please enjoy this chapter! **

_Remember, remember the fifth of November._

November 5, 1605…Guy Fawkes sits in the cellars of The Houses of Parliament in England. He's waiting for his moment. Today is the day. The day no one shall ever forget.

_Gunpowder, treason, and plot…_

Fawkes is surrounded by several dozen barrels of gunpowder. He was quietly laughing to himself. He figured himself a genius, a martyr, a hero.

He hadn't even noticed the Phantom sitting quietly beside him, watching him closely.

_I see no reason why gunpowder, treason…_

Guy Fawkes swung by the neck. The air was thick, this evening was quite warm. Perhaps it would rain.

The Phantom watched as the birds swooped down to pick at the traitor's corpse.

_Should ever be forgot._

Phantom is walking through the streets, the changes happening in a matter of seconds. The very ground he walks on ages with every step.

1606..a bonfire with a man made of old newspapers and straw is being burned. A young school girl and her friends skip around the fire. She goes to the fake Fawkes and asks him for a penny.

Remember, remember….Phantom shall never forget. No matter how hard he tries.

**Chapter 10**

The sound of the gun being crushed by Phantom's hand sent a chill up the Supervisor's spine. The once sharp green eyes of the ghost were now thick black.

The ghost studied the man. Analyzed him. Six feet tall, African American, black hair brown eyes, authority figure, going through a divorce, has a daughter- scratch that had a daughter, undeniably hates ghosts. …._threat, threat, threat- _

Phantom looked at Marshall and lifted his chin and narrowed his eyes. "Tch." He scoffed and used his grip on the weapon to throw the Supervisor back.

Marshall hit the wall and the air was knocked out of him. He felt himself choke on his own salvia.

Phantom took a step forward when he heard the sound of an anti-ecto blaster being fired up. "Sorry, Phantom, but the only place you're going is a new cell or oblivion!" Valerie shouted.

He paused for a moment then began to move forward. _…she's not the target….she hasn't hurt me….she is not important to me. _

"HEY!" Valerie shouted. "Don't just ignore me!" She demanded.

The Supervisor rubbed the back of his head. "Aagggg…..Dammit…" He cursed. He looked up at Phantom approaching. What was the girl doing?! She was letting him attack a GIW Supervisor, that's what she was doing!

He reached in jacket pocket. _Not today punk! _And pulled out an iridescent blue capsule. _He's too close. I need to get further away. _Marshal waited 'til Phantom was standing over him and with his free hand, gave the ghost an uppercut. Phantom staggered back a bit and Marshall jumped up and ran. He turned behind him and threw the blue container- an anti-ecto grenade- which went off inches from Phantom's face.

A brilliant blast of blue and red engulfed the area. Phantom disappeared in the blast.

Valerie put her hands on her hips. _Jeez, a lot of fire today. No way Phantom survived. _She looked at the flames. "You don't think that might've been a bit overkill?" She asked.

Marshall growled. "Hardly! Go alert the Agents of the current situation!" He ordered.

Valerie looked at him curiously. "But-"

"Ms. Gray…" He barked.

She paused and then let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, whatever." She said. She turned on her heals and muttered to herself, "Stupid government agents."

Marshall tucked his hand back in his jacket pocket. He unbuttoned his coat and revealed the artillery attached to him. Anti-ecto grenades, a pouch with medical repair nanite injection, two anti-ecto pistols on his side, an overshadow/bulletproof vest, and a really snazzy black tie. "Bring it, Phantom." He grabbed a gun in his back holster and held it parallel to his check. "Come on, show your ugly face, ghost."

He heard the sound of footsteps coming form the smoke, getting louder. He turned to his side and watched Phantom flail out from the smoke, groping at the air.

The Supervisor went for a kick to the back of the neck when Phantom caught his leg. Phantom glared at him. "Don't touch me!" He spat and threw back the Supervisor.

Marshall staggered back and Phantom went in for a punch. He jumped back and Phantom hit the ground beneath them, breaking the tile. The Supervisor aimed his gun and shot at the ghost. He made a count of four direct hits. Phantom disappeared into a cloud of green, ectoplasmic gas. The Supervisor smirked. "HAH!" Suddenly a wisp of green came from behind the Supervisor and Phantom appeared. Marshall didn't have time to react. Phantom grabbed the back of his neck, tightly gripping a pressure point, and slammed the Supervisor's head into the ground, shattering the floor and breaking Marshall's nose. Phantom grabbed the gun and threw it in the distance. He watched it clank as it hit the ground.

The Supervisor moaned. Phantom looked at him curiously. _…he lives.._ He began sucking in air more and more and more. The Supervisor was aware of this attack. He saw Phantom's mouth begin to glow green and he quickly turned on his side. Phantom then gave a contained ghost wail that aimed right were the Supervisor was only seconds before.

The ground broke and formed a dome shape. Marshall felt his heart race. He was so weak, and Phantom was even more powerful than he thought. He wouldn't survive much more of this. He threw another anti-ecto grenade. Phantom froze his arm and slashed the grenade in two. The Supervisor began to crawl away and Phantom stepped on his calf. _Gah! Oh God, please! Please don't let him break my leg!_

He bent down and glared at him. Phantom stepped of his leg, grabbed Marshall's neck and lifted him into the air.

Veins…he could see inside. Everything was dark…so dark…put these…people. They were alive and glowed. Red veins all throughout their bodies all leading to one place: the heart. It was saying something. A garbled language he couldn't comprehend. Why was it always speaking like this? Like gravel was in it's throat. What was this thing before him? Why did it keep trying to hurt him?

Supervisor glared at Phantom. Why was he doing this? He was acting like a savage! Before he seemed to hesitate hurting humans…even GIW troopers. He never killed them before, never even tired. But in these few seconds his life was in constant danger. What snapped?

Phantom brought the Supervisor closer. "Don't….hurt me.." He ordered. Marshall looked at him oddly. Then Phantom punched him in the gut, taking the Supervisor's breath away. Marshall tasted the blood dripping from his nose that had been smeared all over his face. He felt the air in his lungs forced out.

Like an empty soda can, Phantom tossed him aside. Marshall skidded across the floor. He felt something uncomfortable on his side. He grabbed it. _My… _he coughed…_my pistol? _

He quickly turned at shot Phantom right in his shoulder. It was Marshall's last shot…. And Phantom didn't even flinch. Supervisor Marshall choked on the thickness of his blood. Hot and sticky, it mad been smeared all over his face and in his nose. "Daa….mmmm…gho..sss…" He sputtered.

Phantom gently brought his hand to his shoulder. He took his hand off and looked at it…it was covered in green ectoplasm. …he was bleeding. He glared at Marshall. "I don't want to feel pain." He hissed. Phantom began forming an energy ball in his hand.

Marshall felt his strength dwindling. He couldn't move. No way could he survive another attack from Phantom. He brought his sleeve to his mouth, staining the white with his blood. "Where are they?" He muttered to himself.

Phantom bent his arm, slowly turning his torso, aiming his blast at the Supervisor.

"Fire!" An Operative shouted. Phantom felt the blast hit him in his back, knocking the air out of him and forcing him down.

The Operative lowered his gun and smiled, the other Operative behind him held the pistols ready for back up.

Phantom landed on his knee and caught his balance. He hunched over, catching his breath. His back was sizzling from the blast, green ectoplasm bubbled over his back. He winched.

_Pain….i'm feeling…this hurts_…_THEY HURT ME!_ Phantom scowled. _THEY! …They will pay dearly for this! FEEL!_

Phantom pushed up himself from the ground and stood. The Operatives stared in horror. A blast like that would've killed most ghosts. At the very least Phantom should've been lights out.

Valerie pushed past the Operatives. "Move, morons! Don't just stand there keeping me out of the-" She stopped. Phantom turned around and faced them with the look a wounded animal gives after it's been cornered. "-of the fight….Oh…. Crap."


	11. Chapter 11

**HOLLLLYYYYY CRRAAPPPPPP! ****bows continuously***** Apologies! Apologies! Apologies! Sorry for the lateness! I went on a weeklong trip with some friends to the mountains and was pretty exhausted when I came back. And sick, yeah I got ill. Then I had to turn around and visit grandparents. I'm still at my grandparents btw. Missed four flights the first day and spent all day at the airport (I fly stand-by). After all that exhaustion my grandmother told me she was sick so I spent a day sick and having to run around FL for the day and drive over from Orlando back to her place which took a couple of hours so today I finally got some rest. Also, I'm on a beta reader search but so far come up empty handed. Long story. Anyway, thanks so for being patient! This chapter is not based off any chapter of the Alchemists Muse's Asylum. This chapter marks the official continuation! Yea! The cliffies will finally be continued! Wow! I'm actually kinda nervous! **

**Q AND A TIME!**

**MsFrizzle- You'll learn how and when he was captured soon enough. It's actually quite tragic, I hope you don't break your computer screen. **

**All righty then. I shall keep the songs! They might evolve later. Mainly because I'm running out of nursery rhyme ideas! XP**

**Fanfictiongirl12345- Thanks! And I'll totally see if I can use them for later chapters. Thank you for the ideas.**

**Thanks so much to all who read and all who reviewed! You're all so amazing! I'm glad you all like the story! I hope I can do it justice. *****Bows***** Please enjoy the next chapter and R&R! **

_Now I lay me down to sleep_

Phantom stood in the midst of a cobbled street. There was a wagon leading a group of townspeople in dressed in black. The world seemed to cry along with them.

_I pray the Lord my soul to keep_

There was a flash of white light. Phantom looked around. White bed sheets and crude cots were in disarray. Horridly ill people occupied the beds and nurses swarmed all around tending to the patients.

Bumps covered their bodies. They all looked so weak and frail. Smallpox… the leading cause of death in the 18th century.

_If I shall die before I wake_

Phantom was walking through a graveyard at dusk. The sky was beginning to darken. He walked past the many slabs of engraved death markers.

He paused. A young boy squatted down and placed a handful of daises on a small grave. To him it was like a bouquet of elegant flowers. The child stared at the grave with empty eyes, his chin tucked behind is knees. Phantom faintly saw tears falling down the child's cheeks.

_I pray the Lord my soul to take _

Phantom fell on his back and looked at the stars in the sky. A child was screaming in the background. Phantom looked up with empty eyes and laughed.

He had always been a magnet for death, hadn't he?

_Amen _

**Chapter 11**

Phantom looked back at Valerie with empty eyes. She analyzed him again and again and again. She gaped at the scanners. His ecto-energy was going wild! She'd never seen anything like this before.

The ghost practically growled at them. "I. Don't. Want. To. Feel. PAIN!" He roared, throwing an ecto-energy disk at them.

"Watch it!" Valerie snapped, dogging the attack. She landed on her stomach and put her hands over the back of her neck. She heard the blast and waited until the smoke cleared. She looked behind her to see a large hole in the wall. The two Operatives managed to scramble out of the way in time, figures. Valerie looked back at Phantom. He seemed to be complete staring off into space. What, did attacking the GIW's Supervisor and Amity Park's number one ghost hunter bore him?!

Valerie took this opportunity to meet up with Marshall. She stood in front of him, aiming her wrist ray at Phantom. "Don't even twitch, Phantom!" She ordered. Valerie didn't look away from Phantom, she barley tilted her head down, "You all right, down there?" She asked the Supervisor.

Marshall used his sleeve to grab his nose and wipe down. Blood was all over his mouth, nose, and the back of his throat. The sticky, thick liquid was practically choking him. "I've been better," he said, "But right now, we need to focus on putting Phantom back in his cell."

Valerie nodded. "Agreed. Any ideas?"

The Supervisor glared at the ghost. He wasn't fighting anymore. He was just…standing there. Why? Marshall noticed the bubbling ectoplasm on his back was dying down; the skin on his body was slowly reforming cell-by-cell, tissue-by-tissue. That must be it; he isn't attacking because he's healing himself. "He's gone into defense mode." He concluded. "Healing himself."

"He doesn't seem interested in fighting." Valerie said. "And earlier when he said he didn't want to feel pain, I don't think Phantom wants to attack. I think he just wants to defend himself." She said.

Marshall furrowed his brow. "Hmph. I doubt he'll come quietly." He snorted. "But he can't fight him like this. He's never been this powerful before. It doesn't make sense. Even with the restraints gone they've been constantly draining him for years, so he shouldn't even be able to become intangible yet let alone do all this." He shook his head.

Phantom's head tilted to the side and he turned his head to look at Valerie. Just at her, right in her eyes. He stared at her for a moment then seemed to become uninterested again and looked back at the Operatives discussing their next plan of action.

_His eyes…._Valerie thought. _That…that isn't Phantom…is it? _"Wait a moment. What's with Phantom's eyes? Is this part of his "triggers"?"

"What?" Marshall asked. "What are you talking about?"

Valerie kept her eyes trained on Phantom, not letting him out of her sight. "I've never seen Phantom's eyes like that before. I've been fighting him since I was fourteen," she said, "he's always had some stupid witty banter to say. Phantom loves the sound of his own voice, but right now he's silent. The only thing he's said is that he doesn't want to feel pain."

"What are you saying, Miss Gray?" Marshall asked.

"I'm not sure. I just know that ghost isn't Phantom." Valerie said. _What am I saying? Of course it's Phantom, I'm looking right at him! Still, all these years and I just know that isn't him_. _At least, not all of him. Can ghosts be overshadowed? No, that doesn't explain this sudden power surge. _

"Do you know what you're saying?" Supervisor Marshall snapped.

An operative shot at Phantom again with a ray blaster. The ghost ducked. His body was almost limp, as if he weren't really balanced. He ran and the GIW Operatives and jumped, landing on the blaster. The Operative looked back at him with wide eyes and the ghost leaned in closer.

"Tch." He said. "Don't…attack me.." He hissed, grabbing the operatives face and freezing him solid. The operative's partner held up the pistol with a shaky aim. Phantom hopped off the frozen blaster and walked in front of the operative.

Phantom took another step and the operative flinched. The gun was inches from the ghost's body yet something kept the operative from shooting. _Shoot…. shoot…dammit….why won't my body move?! _He just stood there shaking. The ghost sighed and the operative shut his eyes.

Phantom stood there, waiting. "I... don't want to-" before Phantom could finish the operative fired at the ghost.

A direct hit in the middle of the chest, down he fell. The operative opened his eyes, his body still shaking. "I…I got-" Phantom advanced on the operative, his body healed, and grabbed his jaw. The operative struggled, clutching onto Phantom's arm as he was lifted into the air.

"I…. warned…you." He said. The operative didn't even have time to scream as Phantom crushed his skull open and the second man fell dead to the floor.

Valerie pushed back the rising bile in her throat. _He killed them…Phantom... never…_ The blood from the operative began pooling. The other one's eyes were frozen in fear. She felt her stomach lurch. _I can't believe he did this…he's always been so annoying and talkative and…. a hero…. he may be a ghost but he's never killed…anyone…especially not…humans...never... _She cringed and looked at the floor. _He's too powerful. How am I supposed to beat a homicidal psychopath?! _

Phantom cocked his head at the operative on the floor. "…Don't…hurt me…" He warned.

Valerie's head shot up. _That's it! I know how to beat him! _She stood up and pressed a button on her suit.

Supervisor Marshall tried to yell but choked again. "What the hell are you doing?!" He said barley above a harsh whisper.

"Deactivating my suit." She said calmly, reverting back into her civilian identity.

"If you do that, then there is no way to defend yourself if Phantom attacks!" He said.

Valerie locked her eyes on Phantom. "Don't you think I already know that? It's my suit after all."

"I advise against this." He said. "Phantom is one of our most powerful ghosts. He's also mentally unstable. I don't know how or why he talks to you, but don't think it makes you invincible against him. He's insane, he's a monster, worse than that he is a ghost." Marshall spat. "He's not your friend."

"I happen to be a ghost hunter, in case you forgot." Valerie said. "I've been hunting ghosts since I was fourteen, that includes Phantom. I have a major in anti-ecto security. I know what I'm doing."

Marshall sat up, trying to stop her. But his body was too weak. He was already feeling dizzy from the blood loss. "I order you to stand dow-"

"I'm not one of your agents." She reminded him. "You can't_ order_ me to do anything." _Speaking of which, I hope Mr. Masters is all right…. I'm sure he's fine. He was with GIW forces after all and in the Supervisors room. _

"Miss Gray!" Supervisor shouted, but she already began walking forward. Marshall hit his fist against the floor. _Ugh! Damn it! I can't do anything in this state! _

"Phantom!" She said.

The ghost looked up at her blankly. "Don't…hurt me." He said.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." She promised. "See? My weapons are disabled." She held her arms in the air and Phantom looked her over. He saw past her skin, he saw the veins in her body, the blood rushing through them, all the way into her beating heart. Her battle suit was offline. Even if he attacked her now, she'd never be able to reactivate it in time. She was putting her faith forward, but in what? Back-up? Phantom? Herself?

"I just want to talk." She said glaring into his black, empty eyes. Phantom walked in front of her and started at her as if to say _go on_. "You're not Phantom, are you?" She asked.

The ghost tilted his head to the side. "Who is Phantom?"

Valerie felt a jolt in her spine. _I knew it. _"Who are you?" She asked.

The ghost suddenly appeared behind Valerie. He took a lock of her hair and ran through it with his fingers. She froze. _Don't move… stand still… what's he doing?! _He pressed his nose against her scalp; she could feel his breathing on her head. To think a ghost was doing this… whatever he was doing to her… it caused her to feel a chill to make the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

"This scent." He said. "You…I know you." The ghost said. She felt a hand grab her neck. Her eyes meet with his as he drug her to him, powerless to stop him. "Huntress." He spat.

Valerie choked. _I have to get Phantom back! God, I can't believe I just said that. But if I don't d something, this guy is gonna- _"Phantom," Valerie yelled. His black eyes were unchanging. "Phantom! ..Stop!" She said hoarsely. The ghost's grip was tightening. _No! Please! ...I don't want to die! _"Danny Phantom…" She hissed. "Danny-"

Valerie felt her sore throat give out. Her world was blurring and her head throbbed.

Phantom looked at her. _Phantom….Danny Phantom…Danny….Danny- _

Suddenly Valerie felt herself fall to the floor. She took in deep breaths between coughs.

"Right…can't kill you…. Just yet." He looked around. "This…..everything here…" Valerie looked up at the ghost. "…this wasn't supposed to happen." He looked back down at Valerie. "You weren't' supposed to be here." Phantom looked at his feet and feel to his knees. "Confused… I don't know what's going on….What…. what am I supposed to do?" He shrugged. "Maybe I'll just blow everything up…yeah….that'd be best. Safest. Yeah."

Valerie shivered. _He's insane! _She rubbed her throat and fell back on her backside. Two agents were dead, the Supervisor was unconscious, and she was unable to fight back. Now he was threatening to blow the entire facility to kingdom come!

"Is that honestly your resolution? To "blow everything up"? " Both Valerie and Phantom looked around the empty room.

"W-who said that?" Valerie asked.

"Please, Daniel, I expected better from you." A swirling vortex appeared in midair and a trooper popped out. "Of course, you're not really Danny Phantom, are you? At least, not completely." He said. "Not anymore."

Phantom scowled at the trooper. "Okay, who the hell are you?!" Valerie shirked.

The trooper looked at her. "Ah, right. Miss Valerie Gray. You're not supposed to be here, are you? None of this was meant to come to pass. And you," He looked at Phantom, "aren't even supposed to be in this time." He shook his head. "No… someone has been meddling with my time stream."

"You're what?" She asked. The trooper took off his helmet to reveal a ghost with red eyes and an odd scar similar to the shape of a lightning bolt under his right eye. Eye…his eyes were red. Valerie shivered. She'd never felt such power before. Why hadn't her scanners picked up a ghost this powerful earlier? How did he get in here? And why? What was it with all these ballsy ghosts busting in a GIW facility today?

"You!" Phantom spat. "What …are you doing…. here?"

The ghost grinned. "Just picking something up." He held up his staff. "Time out!"

**Washington D.C: GIW Headquarters…**

Jasmine Fenton was a busy woman. Very busy. As the head detective of GIW's Ectoplasmic Criminal Investigations, she was always on tough cases.

She had several files tucked under her clipboard that she kept tight against her chest. Her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She walked with the same brimming confidence she always had.

"Ms. Fenton?" A young woman's voice called from behind.

Jazz looked behind her but kept walking. The clumsy intern desperately tried to keep up. "Ah, Sheska! Walk with me." She said.

Sheska quickened her pace to match up with Ms. Fenton's, but she couldn't quite keep up. It wasn't suspiring to her. She was awkward, young, and clumsy while Ms. Fenton was an intellectual lady of sonority and a womanly figure.

The young intern nervously shifted her glasses and continued to brig out the file she'd been given. "I uhhh have an assignment from Central Command." She said. "Down in Facility Base: Asylum."

Jazz snorted. _Central Command. More like central command others to do their work for them. _"I'm already working several cases. Give it to someone else."

"I would, ma'am, but they've requested you specifically." Sheska said with a nervous smile, almost jogging to keep up with her higher up.

"They all request me specifically." Jazz snorted. "What makes this case so important?"

"Apparently it involves an unknown ghost entity. One of our most dangerous ghost may be involved-"

"Bored. Give it to someone else." Jazz said again.

Sheska recalled being given this assignment. _"Give this to Jasmine Fenton at all costs." _Her boss said. _"I don't care how hard she insists she won't take it, make it worth her while. I don't care what you have to do." _Sheska sighed to herself. Supervisor Marshall could be a real pain sometimes, but he was her higher up so she had to deal with it. "But this uh could be a real problem for the GIW. An unknown ghost is a huge issue and you-"

"It isn't my problem." Jazz said.

Sheska walked a bit faster. "Ms. Fenton, I must insist that you at least hear me out first before you decide anything." She said boldly.

Jazz sighed. She knew Sheska wouldn't leave her be until she at least had gotten a chance to talk to her. She at a meeting in fifteen, so she didn't have time to argue. "Fine." She said. "Make it my problem."

"A private hunter went to Asylum yesterday to enter the cell of one of our most powerful ghosts. " She said. "She wanted to know if he had any information on a ghost named Clockwork."

Jazz kept walking. "Never heard of him."

"Right, apparently no one else has either. Many of the private hunter's targets had been mentioning this ghost but our records didn't have any information on him. She had a hunch one of our captured ghosts had information, but no such luck occurred. It was one of our more mentally unstable ghosts."

"What makes this important to me? I say give it to someone with a CI who's got time to kill." She said.

"That would seem practical, yes. But we recently got an emergency call that a ghost had infiltrated Asylum. Only hours after the name Clockwork was mentioned."

"Which ghost broke in?" She asked.

"The file doesn't say. Whenever a base is compromised, an emergency signal is sent out. We haven't gotten word about what's going on down there yet."

"Hm. That does seem suspicious." She said. Arriving outside two large doors: Meeting Room 554. "But still, not _my _problem."

Sheska stopped and looked at Jazz like a kicked puppy. "But-"

"I'm sorry, Sheska. But I'm far too busy to take on a trivial case like this. I can recommend someone, but that's it. Tell Supervisor Michael-"

"Marshall." Sheska corrected.

"Tell him I only work major cases. I don't investigate hunches." She said, stopping just outside the doors.

"Ms. Fenton, I-"

"If you really want my opinion, here it is. This Clockwork or whoever he is, isn't a ghost, he's an organization. This freelance hunter is being asked to eliminate members of this organization without knowing what it is." Jazz said. "Hunters don't ask questions. They're hired to hunt and kill. That's all they need to know. It's quite common. Saying this name must've sparked interest in another powerful ghost and it went after whoever is hunting them. Send an expert on ghost ID and someone to fix Asylum security. I'd say send someone to keep an eye on Marshall, too. Besides that, I only look into really important cases." She began to push open the door. Before Sheska could argue Jazz was halfway through the door. "Come back when you can make it my problem." And the door shut behind her.

Sheska sighed. "Oh man. Supervisor Marshall is going to kill me if I tell him all that." She looked down at her file. "What am I going to do now?"

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum Board Room 221…**

"Hmmm." Clockwork said. Everything was frozen around him, aside from the ghost child. "Curious. I've stopped time, yet you seem unaffected." He said.

Phantom narrowed his eyes. "Clock….work…." He scoffed.

He rubbed the top of his staff. "It seems you've lost your sense of… composure. No witty banter, no mocking laughter, no evil remarks, nothing? To be honest I didn't expect that from you." He rubbed his chin. "I suppose it is because of the time meeting up with itself. After all, this wasn't supposed to happen, now, was it?"

"You…did this? Didn't you…your fault…Clo…ck…work?" He stuttered.

"You're running out of _time_ here in this time." Clockwork said and Phantom tilted his head. "Confused? Want me to explain?" Phantom narrowed his eyes. "I see how it is. Fine. Your existence is in a chronolock." He said. "It's what's keeping you moving while I've paused time."

"You..did this?" Phantom asked.

"That answer is more complex than you realize. Unfortunately, _you're_ not the Daniel I need to see right now." Clockwork summoned a small ghost portal and pulled out the scythe from his realm, letting the portal close. "Time has already run out for you."

Phantom tightened his fists. "I hate….you…" He said.

Clockwork lifted up his scythe. "Time's up, Phantom."

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum Supervisor Marshall's Office… **

Vlad managed to get back to the room without much trouble at all. _Daniel should manage to free himself even with Aragon after him. All I have to do now is hope Skulker has deactivated the ghost shield system so I can phase back in the office. He should manage to capture the boy just fine once he escapes, even he will be too exhausted to fight any longer. He'll be on the run. _

Plasmius fazed his body through the door with ease and transformed back into his human form. He looked around. _Odd. The trooper must've come to and came looking for me. _He rubbed his chin. It shouldn't be a problem. _No one would believe an old man would knock out a GIW Trooper and go off twiddling about the base. I'll just have to wait here. _

Vlad sat in his chair and used his communicator to contact his team outside. "Skulker, reactivate the ecto-shields." He said.

"Done." Skulker said, coming through on the other line. "What is Phantom's ETA?"

Vlad sat up. "What? You mean he isn't out there yet?" He asked.

"If he were," Skulker said. "Do you think I'd be talking to you?"

Vlad sighed. "Perhaps Aragon was a bigger challenge than I realized."

"Well? What are we gonna do?" He asked.

"Just stick with the plan. Send the birdbrains in to check out what's going on. Don't let them be seen and don't let that overgrown lizard eat the child!" He ordered. "Our efforts will have been wasted here."

"Copy that." Skulker said. Vlad disconnected and the hunter looked up at the vultures. "Go inside and see what the hold up is. Don't get caught."

"Is something vong vith the plan?" One of them asked.

"Don't tell me da ghost child got eaten, did 'e?"

Skulker shooed them. "Just go!" He roared.

"V're goin', v're goin'! Jeez, no need to be so violent!" The birds went invisible and began making their way to the facility.

Skulker glared at the building. _Hmmm….bored…. maybe something interesting will happen. _

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum Board Room 221…**

"Time in!" A voice shouted.

Valerie felt herself lift from a daze. She shook her head. "Man. What was that?" She looked around. "Wait, where is Phantom?!" She looked at the two operatives. _What are they going to tell their families? _She suddenly saw one of them stir. _N-no way! I saw what Phantom's attack did to them! They cant be-_

"Supervisor Marshall, sir?" An operative asked. Valerie looked behind her. _But…just a minute ago he was frozen solid. _"Where is Phantom?"  
The other operative stood. "What happened here? I can't remember a thing."

The Supervisor rubbed his head. "I'm... not sure."

Valerie remembered something and turned on her heals. "Sir, we need to get you to sick bay-" She stopped dead in her tracks. Supervisor Marshall was… fine.

"It's a bloody nose, Miss Gray." He said, wiping away the blood with a white handkerchief. "I'll live. But we need to find out what the hell happened to Phantom a.s.a.p." Marshall said, standing up.

Valerie shook her head. _This… this doesn't make any sense. _She looked at the walls and staggered back. "What happed to the wall?!" She yelled.

One of the operatives looked up. "What do you mean? It looks fine."

She spun around. "Exactly! What happened to the giant hole?!"

"Giant hole?" The other asked.

"AGH! This doesn't make any sense. First that trooper shows up, then the wall gets fixed, and you two are still alive?! What's going on?"

"Trooper?" Marshall asked. "What trooper?"

"He wasn't really a trooper he was some ghost that got in here. I didn't even pick him up on my scanners and-" Valerie paused. "What? Why are you looking at me like I'm crazy?"

The Supervisor put a hand on her shoulder. "I think you should go home, Miss Gray. Get some rest."

"Phantom just got loose and you want me to 'get some rest'?" She snapped, swatting his hand away.

"We need all agents 100% alert. As it stands right now, you'll just get in the way."

"Excuse me?" She snapped.

"You heard me. That battle with Phantom messed with everyone. There's no telling what he did to you." He said. "It's better if you go home."

Valerie wanted to argue. No, she wanted to punch something. She growled and stormed off. How dare he treat her like one of his agents? Whatever. If she got in the way it could mean trouble for her.

She suddenly remembered. She dashed down the hall, running down the corridors. "Mr. Masters! I completely forgot!"

The Supervisor watched Valerie Gray leave the area and he turned to his Operatives. "Make the call." He said.

**Washington D.C: GIW Headquarters…**

Jazz finally had the only fifteen minutes of rest she'd get all day. That's why she loved showers; the water running down her back, the clean feeling, the warm and relaxed feeling. It calmed her tense shoulders and opened up her lungs. Her aching feet felt good against the warm water falling down. She'd just gotten her shampoo into a good lather in her hair when her phone began ringing on her bathroom countertop. She cursed.

Stumbling out of the shower she nearly tripped and caught herself on her towel holder. She reached for her phone. The caller was Supervisor Marshall of Facility Base: Asylum. Of course it was.

"This better be important." She said through gritted teeth.

"If you consider one of our most powerful ghosts breaking out of Asylum important, then yeah. I'd say it is."

Jazz straightened her back. "You have ten seconds to make this my problem."

"The ghost escaped with aid of several unknowns. All of which escaped without a trace." He said.

"Which ghost?" Jazz asked.

Marshall felt his mustache slightly twitch. "Danny Phantom."

There was silence for a moment. "I'm on my way."

"I'll see you in a few hours."

"A few hours?!" She screamed.

"I expect you to put all your efforts into this case. No exceptions." Marshall deadpanned.

Jazz grumbled. She knew he was right. "Fine. I'll be over there tomorrow." She said.

"Make it here in six hours." He ordered.

"Now see here, Supervisor-"

"I trust you'll be here." He said and hung up. Jazz glared at her phone. _So that's what being hung up on feels like. _She looked at herself in the mirror. _Time to go see what little brother has been up to. _

**Outside Facility Base: Asylum…**

Skulker scratched the back of his neck. _Where are those birdbrains? They should've been back by now. _

As if they had heard them they reappeared in the air. "V've got trouble." He said.

"Big trouble." The other agreed.

"What's the issue?" He asked.

"Vantom has disappeared vithout a trace. Gone!" The third said.

Skulker cursed under his breath. "Just what we needed! I'm calling Plasmius!" He said.

Vlad felt his communicator buzz and he looked down to see Skulker. Great, just who he wanted to see. He rolled his eyes. "Oh bother, what is it this time?"

"Thought you should know Phantom is vamoose." Skulker said.

Vlad sat upright in his chair. "What?! Are you telling me he got away?" He snarled.

"I'm saying something happened with Aragon. Apparently no one is in there but the Supervisor and his Operatives." He clarified.

Vlad sat back. _Valerie must be on her way over here then. _"Go ahead and return to base. We can't talk here."

"Copy. Over and out." Skulker said and disappeared from the wrist communicator. Vlad felt his body begin to rage. Anger was forcing him to morph. The next person to walk in he was going to strangle!

The Superior's door flew open. "Mr. Masters? Are you alright in here?" She asked.

Vlad sighed and stood up with his cane and made his way over. He felt himself regain composure. Daniel wanted to play hide and seek? Fine. After all, he has never one to lose at a game. "Never better, my dear." He said, smirking. "Never better."


	12. Chapter 12

OHHHHHH MYYYYY GODDDDDD! I have been jumping through hoops trying to get this chapter done on time! Oh lordie! PHEW! I hope I can continue to create some juicy mysteries as well as some jaw-dropping secrets.

Q and A time!

Jim89- The GIW are trying to protect everyone, but in fear they locked up Phantom. They recognize he is trying to be good, but he's very powerful and therefore they fear he will turn on them. Horrible, right?

Jazz is just kinda in a hurry all the time and may come off across as tactful. But she really cares about her little brother a lot. In fact she joined the GIW so she could find him. She never knew he was in Asylum. You'll learn more about her story later. I promise, she isn't going to be a little b*&ch to precious little Danny-kins like Paulina.

MsFrizzle- Yeah. They had plenty of backup plans, but when the objective disappears out of thin air it gets kinda confusing.

Heck yes. He is pretty powerful. He has a huge involvement with the story. His background is pretty badass, if I do say so myself. You just might have to wire your jaw shut once it hits the floor. He isn't invisible, but he's definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Yeah, Clockwork is one crafty dude. Plus Vlad was involved and another villain who shan't yet be named(no it's not Voldemort), but you'll find out who he is later. That is a good question. Her backstory will also be explained later.

Aw thanks for your concern. I was most upset because I didn't want to disappoint you guys because of such a delayed chapter. But i'm glad this one was on time! ^.^

draken14142- Lol sort of, you'll find out what happened in this chapter. Is Jazz really that bad? She always came off across as nosey and tactful to me even though she has good intentions.

Thanks to all you reviewed! Big thanks to my new beta reader DaughteroftheSon! Thanks to you, my reader, for sticking with the story so far! I hope you've enjoyed it! I shall keep trying my best to update every week! ONWARD TO ASYLUM!

* * *

Phantom looked around. He was somewhere in America. 1800's, he concluded. He saw a child lying in bed, a stream of blood trickled from his mouth.

Jimmy's got the whooping cough.

Suddenly he was in a hospital. Many children were lying on the beds. Bumps covered their skin.

And Timmy's got the measles.

He stood in a cemetery. Hundreds of graves for the lost souls. He felt his heart ache.

That's the way the story goes.

The ghost fell to his knees as he helplessly watched people dying before him, helpless to stop it. He could only watch and do nothing.

Pop! Goes the weasel.

**Amity Park: Valerie Gray's Apartment…**

Valerie Gray was in blissful rest. Well, not totally blissful. It's fun at first. It always is, until it all goes to hell.

It was early evening. The time most teens would be doing their homework or popping pimples. But not me. Tonight was a good night, and I had more to worry about than my social life that was now in shambles. All thanks to him. Danny Phantom. But I have him now.

The ecto-brat took the bait perfectly. Ha! What a joke. As if a ghost hunter would ever admire a ghost! And thanks to her, he is in my clutches and she is in Mr. Masters.

I was getting my father and I out of the slums. Slowly I'd work our way back up the food chain. I'd protect Amity and become a hero. I'll even get my life back. My friends… I'll have friends again. Not the ones who ditched me though. Not ones like Paulina and Star. Friends like…Danny Fenton; a guy who is average on the outside but special on the inside. He doesn't care about what you look like or how much money you have, only who you are. But even Phantom has been taking all that away from me. Everything…lost. Ironic- no…appropriate that the one who made me lose everything will be the one to help me get it back.

I don't want to kill him just yet. He has valuable information. Besides, he deserves to suffer before he dies. He owes me at least that much and he's going to pay in full.

"Mhmm….unnn...uhhh…." Phantom was waking up. This is gonna be the best night of my fourteen year old life. "Huh?" He looked around frantically. Seeing nothing. After all, we were in an underground lab. I had the home-field advantage. He struggled against the restraints and quickly realized how futile it was and sighed. Not only were the restraints ecto-proof, but they had been draining his power since he was unconscious. It'd be a while before he could even stand if he broke free, not that he ever could. I had him right where I wanted him. .

"I finally got you where I want you." I said, walking out from the shadows. "But now, I want answers, Phantom." I said.

"You're not getting anything until you tell me what you did with Dani!" He said. Phantom's green eyes honed in on me. I smiled, he thinks he's getting out of this.

"Oh she's getting what's coming to her." I said, putting my hands on my hips.

"Just tell me you didn't hand her over to Vlad." He said.

"Well," I said, "That would be a lie, now wouldn't it?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "You didn't seem to have much trouble lying to Dani." He said. "Listen, I know we've had out issues," he began. "And clearly, you're not big on forgiveness, but Dani doesn't have anything to do with you hating me."

A felt a twinge in my chest. "I don't hate you, Danny." I said, smiling. "It's because of you that I'm the most powerful ghost hunter in Amity Park." Before I was a hunter, I was a weak-little rich girl with fake friends and no direction. But when I lost all that, I got strong, I got tough, and I learned a thing or two living off the streets. Most importantly, I learn you can't trust everyone you meet. Now, I'm powerful, I'm strong, and I'm going somewhere. I knew that the change was Phantom making my father lose his job, and although I felt like I just lied through gritted teeth, I know that I do have him to thank for making me want to be independently strong. I'm a hero.

"Hey! What about the Fenton's?" He asked, almost offended.

"Ha! Are you kidding?" I asked. "They couldn't catch a ghost if it was living under their own roof!" I said. Fenton… One day Danny Fenton might find out who I really am. I know he thinks hunting ghosts is for loons, but maybe he'll still- no I know he'll still accept me. That's just who he is.

Phantom gave me a look that was familiar, almost embarrassed. Like when your parents do something stupid. "True." He said.

"Knowledge is power." I told him. "And with your knowledge I'll have the power to rid Amity Park of its content ghost invasion forever."

"So you want information?" He asked, giving me a snide look.

"Everything you've got!" I confirmed. "On the ghost portals, the ghost zone-"

"And what if I don't feel like talking?" He asked. I felt a chill of pleasure run up my spine. I was hoping he'd ask that.

I opened up my box of hunting equipment, weapons purely meant for torture. I picked up an electro pulse shocker. "Then I'll have to find ways to persuade you." I said, smiling.

I saw him cringe, his face flooding with fear. This was gonna be good. I kinda hoped he won't talk for a while. It's not fun when it's easy.

"Valerie!" He shouted. I glared at him. He doesn't have the right to call me by my first name. And Phantom is a joker…and a constant babbler. Maybe this will be more of a chore than anything else. "You don't want to do this!"

I laughed. "No, you don't want me to do this!" I said, holding up the pulse shocker.

He shrugged a bit. "Well, yeah."

I shocked him in the chest, letting the pulse send his body in a spasm. His nerves going frantic with pain and fear. He cringed, holding in his scream. Then he shouted in pain. I felt a shiver on the back of my neck. He's in real pain…..this…this is….a lot more fun than I thought I'd be! "STOP!" He screamed. "Okay! Okay I'll tell you everything!" He pleaded. I pulled away the weapon, leaving it on so he knew to make him feel pain all I had to do was bend my arm ever so slightly. His body shivered a bit. Heh…how pathetic. He didn't even last five minutes. "I'll tell you about the portals! I can give you a map to the ghost zone, you can become the hero ghost hunter of Amity Park!" He said. This was odd. He had a look of not fear on his face, but determination. "But first, you need to let me go and we need to save Danielle." He said.

"Why? Because she's one of your kind?" I spat. "A ghost?" I hit him with the pulse shocker again and he screamed, not even bothering to hold it in.

"No! Because she's one of yours! A human!" I pulled the shocker off. What-….what was he talking about? "She's not just a ghost. She's also a girl."

True, I saw her transform in that building when it was collapsing. Come to think of it she did try to save me, not that I couldn't have done it myself. But she gave up her secret to me. A perfect stranger…so what she's an idiot? "But Vlad said the ghost part of her was out to get her and Amity Park." I said. I owed too much to Mr. Masters to let that happen. Amity…I have to protect it…my precious…everything….I can't let ghosts ruin me again!

"Valerie, you saw her!" He snapped. "Did Dani look like she could destroy anything?!"

I paused and looked away. "Funny…she asked the same thing."

"Look, the facts are Danielle's ghost half is unstable. Vlad is out to destroy her." I look up at him, right into his eyes. If he was lying, he was even better than me. "And if he destroys the ghost half, the human half is destroyed along with it." I arched by brow. How does he know so much about half-ghosts. What…what is a half-ghost anyway. Humans can't have ghost powers. Right? Besides, ghost half, she's still a ghost, right? I can't let the fact she's ectoplasmic scum get past me.

"No." I said, shaking my head. "That's not my problem! She is a ghost and I destroy ghosts!" I yelled.

"Fine!" He yelled back. "Destroy ghosts! But can you really take part in destroying a human?" I felt my stomach churn…no…I hunt….I'm not. I'm not a hunter. I don't hunt ghosts for the hell of it. I hunt because….why….Dad, Mr. Masters, Amity Park, innocents, Danny Fenton- I…I'm not a hunter. I'm a protector! I'm a-

Valerie felt herself drift back into consciousness. She groggily sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Uhnnn…. That dream again?" She yawed hand scratched her arm. What time did she finally go to bed? One, two in the morning? Phantom's break-out caused her to stay up most of the night worriedly thinking about what kind of horrors he was going to unleash on the city. She looked at her clock. It was 10:30 a.m! "Shoot! I overslept!" She said, rushing to her closet. She had to meet Kwan in thirty!

As she raced to the bathroom she thought about her dream. Half ghosts. How stupid! I was weaker back then. But now, I'm strong. And I'm going to catch him this time! Dead or alive.

**The Ghost Zone: Clockwork's Realm…**

Phantom bolted upright and gasped. He felt his air return to him and he sighed. The echo of Pop! Goes the weasel rang in his head and began to slowly fade out. Another historical trip, eh? At least he has the comfort of his cell-

The ghost realized he wasn't in the GIW building anymore. This was a familiar place. He felt his stomach turn. A mixed feeling of joy and horrification danced in his gut.

Clockwork… this is Clockwork's realm. Memories returned to him. Oh, yeah. Aragon busted me out of my cell. Then... what happened to him? An image of Aragon's body being destroyed by Plague flashed across his mind. He felt his back tense up for a moment then his head dropped and his shoulders relaxed. Right…he's dead. But what happed after that? I-I can't remember.

Clockwork entered the chamber, which held Phantom. "Oh, you're awake? Hm. I wasn't expecting you to be up quite yet." He said, putting away several bottles in a cabinet.

"Y-you… broke me out?" Phantom asked.

Clockwork continued shelving his alchemic ingredients. "Yes." He said. "Wasn't it obvious?"

Phantom glared at him. "So what? You just felt like breaking me free today?"

Clockwork looked at Phantom. "Now when have I ever done anything on a whim, Daniel?" He asked, going back to his work.

"Right. So," Phantom tried getting out of bed and winced. He looked down. "Uhh…where is my shirt?" He looked under the covers and quickly put them down. "Where are my pants?!" He asked frantically.

"In the wash." Clockwork said, floating over to the other shelf and beginning to organize again.

Phantom looked back down at his chest. It was bandaged up in a tourniquet. "Uh-huh. So what happened?" He poked at his chest and winced.

"Idiot. Don't poke at it." Clockwork said. "I had to tend to your wound. It might take a while to heal, but you should be fine. Just don't do anything that would re-open the wound." He said.

"Yeah, so how did I get said wound?" Phantom asked.

"Oh, I did it." Clockwork said, continuing to shelve his things.

"You're acting rather nonchalant about ripping my chest open." Phantom said.

"What did you expect, Daniel? I am, if need be, your executioner." Clockwork floated up to reach the top shelf where his books were.

"Yeah, but not my break-you-out-of-prison-and-give-you-a-huge-injury-and-bandage-you-upper." He shot back.

Clockwork looked down at him. "Two time streams meet, something not of my doing. This time has been tampered with, and another you meet up with the present you." He went back to his books, taking out several copies. "In that world, that Daniel had to be eliminated. So that's what I did. I used my time-scythe. Of course, you were wounded in the process. But it was the only way to bring you back." He floated back down with several books in hand and went to his desk.

Phantom didn't quite understand, but at that point he could care less about the giant rip in his chest. What he really wanted to know was why Clockwork had bothered to save him at all. "Okay, Mr. Busy-Bee. That doesn't explain why you broke me out of that place." Phantom said.

Clockwork paused. "Time has been tampered with, Daniel. I'm just trying to fix it." He said, putting the books on his desk and looking around.

"Give me a straight answer for once! Why am I here? Why after eleven years did you free me? Why has time been messed up? Who screwed with it? Why did they mess with my future? Why was my life turned into a living hell?!" He yelled.

Clockwork sighed. "That damn Ghostwriter. Borrowing my books without permission." He shook his head.

"CLOCKWORK!" Phantom screamed, getting up and falling back down on the mattress. He cursed himself for being weak.

"I told you to be still." Clockwork said calmly. His eyes meet with Phantoms. "I realize you have many questions, but I cannot answer them all," Phantom looked away and folded his arms, "… yet. They will come into light soon enough."

Phantom ran his fingers through his hair and realized it was shorter. He patted his head with both his hands…. Much shorter. "WHAT HAPPNED TO MY HAIR?!" He asked.

"I gave you a haircut." Clockwork said. "You haven't been keeping very good care of yourself, have you?" He said with a smile. Phantom glared at him as if to say 'don't go there'. Clockwork relaxed his smile and gave Phantom a small mirror.

Phantom held it. It'd been eleven years since he'd seen himself. Ever since that incident, looking in the mirror had been sickening. He slowly held the mirror up and saw his face. He looked a bit surprised at first. He saw a man with dark circles under his eyes and a hallow look. Suddenly he felt bile rise in his stomach and he doubled over to catch his breath. Me…that was…that is me…I guess… it's hard to see myself…after eleven years…. Wow… hehehe….I look awful. He looked back in the mirror and then snapped at Clockwork. "Come on! This is the same haircut I had when I was fourteen!" He complained.

Clockwork shrugged. "What did you expect? I'm a time lord, not a cosmologist."

Phantom felt his chest burn again. He winched and laid back. Clockwork grabbed a bottle from his shelf and a small cloth and went over to Phantom's bedside. He set the bottle and cloth aside and began removing Phantom's bandages.

The halfa arched his back when he saw the wound. It ran down from his left hip all the way up just below his right shoulder. It had been stitched closed but looked deep and red. He shuddered. What had Clockwork just done to him?

Clockwork set the old wrappings aside and poured a small amount of liquid into a bowl and dabbed the cloth in it. He blotted Phantom's wound and the ghost shrank back, gasping a bit.

"This will heal you." He said. "Bear through the pain."

Phantom stood up straight and held his breath. Each dab felt like hundreds of fine needles pricking into his skin. It nearly lasted a lifetime.

"Finished." Clockwork said. He turned and began to unwrap a new set of bandages. "You can breathe now." Clockwork said. Phantom exhaled. He forgot he'd been holding his breath. Clockwork began rewrapping Phantom's chest.

This is so weird. I don't hear from him in years and now he cuts me open and tends to me? Just out of the blue? What's his plan? Why has be rescued me?

"Done." Clockwork said, putting away the extra bandages. "You should rest now." He said.

Phantom cracked a goofy grin. "Uh, can't sleep. Haven't in years. Insomnia." He explained.

Clockwork grabbed a vile from his desk and poured a small amount into a cup and gave it to Phantom. "Take this. It worked before."

"Before?" He asked.

"You were asleep earlier, weren't you? Well not really, but I had put you in a state of unconsciousness to heal your body." Clockwork said.

Phantom looked at Clockwork oddly. "What, so you drugged me? You use this to pick up chicks or something?" He asked.

"Stop being a nuisance and just drink it already." Clockwork snapped.

"But won't I morph back if I fall asleep?" He asked.

"You're not exactly sleeping. More like, in pupa state. It wears off after a while, but I can reawaken you with another elixir. Besides, I'm working on fixing your human state while you rest. It will take a while. So I've given you quite a dosage." Clockwork said.

Fix…my human half… I can return human again? Phantom swallowed the elixir. In a second he felt his mind begin to grow weak. He lay down and Clockwork took the empty cup and put a bed sheet over Phantom's body. "Will I… see… my family… again?" He asked.

Clockwork felt a lump in his throat. "Yes." He said after a while, but Phantom had already drifted into unconsciousness.

**Café on Riddick Street: 11:00 a.m. precisely…**

Kwan Li sat nervously in the café on Riddick Street, his hands twisted in each other. He continuously sat up and back down, checked his phone, and re-ran what he would say when Valerie showed up. Say something funny. Make her smile, make her laugh.

Kwan checked the clock on his phone again. Five past eleven.

"Hey, Kwan." A voice said.

He looked up from his phone and saw Valerie Gray standing there in a sweatshirt and baggy pants, she hadn't really done her makeup and there were dark circles under her eyes. "Hey, Va- Wow. You look terrible." He said without thinking.

Valerie walked over to the table with a completely neutral face, as always. "Thanks. That's what every girl wants to hear." She said, pulling out a chair.

Kwan felt his hands sweat. "Oh, I uh didn't mean it like that! I just mean- er- you look like-"

"Like the ghost I've been hunting over fifteen years just escaped a maximum security GIW facility base? Gee, I wonder why." Kwan rubbed the back of his neck. Smooth move, Li. She's already more agitated than usual. Valerie took a seat and leaned back in the chair. "So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Huh? Oh right!" Kwan shifted his glasses and leaned in close, resting his elbows on the table. "I wanted to talk about some things I found out in Asylum."

Valerie raised an eyebrow. "What kinda things?" She asked.

"Secret things. Things involving the truth about Phantom." He said.

She shrugged. "What's there to know?" She asked. "He's a ghost, so I catch him. He isn't special or anything."

"Actually, you're wrong. He's quite interesting." Kwan said. She looked at him with a slightly bored expression. "Unlike any of the previous ghosts the GIW has captured, Phantom shares the most human-like characteristics."

Valerie wrinkled her nose. "Tch. What could possibly be considered human about him?" She scoffed.

The waiter came by. "Can I get you anything?" He asked.

"I'll take a coffee." Kwan said. "Anything for you, Val? My treat." He said.

"Just water, thanks." She said. The waiter jotted it down.

"All right, I'll be right back." He said.

Val looked back at Kwan. "You were saying? What makes him human?"

"Several things." Kwan said, getting back on track. "Mentally, he has a conscious. His brain also works very closely related with our own. It's how I've been able to diagnose him for certain mental disorders and attempt to treat him. He also seems to possess a common understanding of the human world; material wise and sentimental. Phantom is also physically similar to humans. I've studied ghosts before, but his body is almost just like a humans. His DNA is very peculiar." He said, resting his chin on his hands.

Valerie sat up a bit. "Peculiar how?"

"Part of his DNA is human." He said.

Valerie's mouth dropped. The waiter came by and set down the drinks. "May I take your order?" He asked.

"This is fine for now." Kwan said, acting normal. The waiter nodded and walked off.

Valerie leaned in. "What? How is that even possible?"

Kwan dumped a creamer in his coffee and stirred it. "You and I both know humans can't have ghost powers." He said. Valerie nodded. "But, that isn't quite true. I remember the time our class was quarantined at North Mercy hospital. We all exhibited ghost-like symptoms."

Valerie lifted her head up. "Actually, I had been ghost-hunting during that time, so I was wearing anti-ghost protectors." She explained. "I was never taken up to North Mercy."

"Are you serious? You must've been the only one." Kwan paused. "Wait, I think Foley might've been unaffected too." He said.

"Foley? Tucker Foley? Why him?" Valerie asked. "I figured my gear protected me, but what kept him safe?"

"Not sure. But everyone else from our school was there." He took a sip of his coffee. "That's hot." He muttered.

"We were the only two unaffected then." She said. "What's it all mean?"

"I'm not sure." He said, setting his coffee back down. "I know the GIW is involved somehow, though. And Phantom." He said.

"Phantom?" Valerie asked. "I assumed everyone had been possessed or something, but there's no way Phantom could do that to everyone. Even he isn't that powerful."

"He was there, though. I saw him." Kwan rubbed his chin. "He was after another ghost there. Not too long after I saw him everyone went back to normal."

Valerie felt her head throb. "Hold on a sec, are you saying Phantom is a ghost hunter?"

"Possibly. The GIW had an interesting file on hand." He said.

Valerie took a drink of her water. "What was so interesting about it?" She asked.

"It didn't label him an enemy like all the other ghosts. Just a powerful ghost."

She lifted her head up. "Why not just send him back to the ghost zone when caught then?"

"Research. Phantom was invaluable to finding out more than we ever had about ghosts." Kwan said.

Valerie sneered. "I thought he wasn't so talkative anymore."

Kwan shifted uncomfortably. "Unfortunately, that doesn't matter to the GIW."

"Wait, are you saying… Phantom was part of what some kinda ghost experiments?"

"Yeah. A lot of them. It's how we found out about his DNA." He said. Valerie felt herself shudder.

"Okay, getting back on track here." She said, "Let's just say humans somehow can have ghost powers, what does that mean with Phantom?"

"His DNA is ghostly but there was evidence of human DNA in his system. In fact, I believe Phantom isn't even a full ghost."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think Danny Phantom isn't just part ghost, he's partly human somewhere."

"Pause." She said, holding up a finger. "How does that even happen? How does a ghost become part human?"

"Not sure. We're not even sure how ghosts exist anyway." Kwan looked at the tablecloth. "I've been doing summersaults with my brain over this. It makes sense is some regards, but in others not at all."

"Yeah, he's a ghost." Valerie deadpanned. "He shouldn't have anything human about him."

"But he's aging." He said, looking her in the eye. "How many ghosts have you caught that aged?" He asked. She paused.

"I'm listening." She said.

"Phantom seemed to grow over the four years spent chasing him. When he was finally captured his body was estimated to be around seventeen or eighteen in human years. But as eleven years went on, he grew. Not like in mass, but in age. Now he's estimated to be in his late twenties." He said. "Ghosts are supposed to be immortal, right? They're dead. So why is he getting older?"

"What are you saying? You think Phantom is a ghost with certain human characteristics or something?" She asked.

Kwan sat back in his chair and rubbed his glasses with his shirttail. "Maybe. But it doesn't make any sense. Not according to these records."

"Records?"

Kwan repositioned his spectacles and laid down a large file on the table. "This is all the research I've gathered on Phantom." He pulled out several sheets and put them in front of her. "These are his monitor logs."

Valerie skimmed through them and then again and then a third time. "Wait. Is this right?"

"That's what I asked."

"You're telling me in eleven years Phantom hasn't slept, not once?" She asked.

"Not a wink. Nothing works on him. Not even tranquilizers. Believe me, I was there when they tried."

Valerie put down the files. Her dream, that memory. "There was something he said to me before."

"What?"

"Back when I was fourteen, Mr. Masters hired me to capture Dani Phantom."

"So you've been chasing him ever since?"

"No, I was chasing Phantom long before then. I was confused at first, but there was a girl ghost by the name Danielle Phantom. A ghost that my employer said was after his life."

"Why would a ghost be after Mayor Masters?" Kwan asked.

"I'm getting to it." She said. "Anyway, I did capture her and managed to get my hands on Phantom too." She looked away. "When getting Dani I noticed she looked incredibly weak. It was just too easy. But I didn't care. I had Phantom, and that was all that mattered. He didn't care about his life, but he desperately wanted to save her."

"So you let him go?"

"You make it sound like it was easy." Valerie said. "I didn't know, but Dani wasn't an ordinary ghost."

"How so?'"

"She was part human. I didn't think it possible. But she had a human half. I saw it, I saw her transform before my eyes."

"How is that possible?"

"I went to rescue her from Mayor Master's mansion and found Mr. Masters locked in a closet. A ghost by the name Plasmius had overshadowed him to get me to capture Dani and bring her to him. She was apparently some sort of creation and that was why she was looking for Phantom, to stabilize her. After she was saved Mr. Masters told me she was part human and therefore not a target."

"What about Phantom?"

"After we freed Dani he-" Valerie paused. She let him go, but she couldn't tell Kwan that. "He uh… got away. But he never mentioned he was half ghost like her."

"You think if it would've saved him, he would've." Kwan said.

"Which is why I think Phantom is something else." She said, "Speaking of which, what do you know about ghost named Clockwork?"

"I remember he was the reason you visited Phantom in the first place, and that the name is one of his triggers." Kwan thought for a moment. "Although, I don't remember a Clockwork being on file, I could check. Why? Is he important?"

"I think he's the reason Phantom escaped." She said.

"How so?"

"Funny thing is, I can't really remember what happened. But I do know he popped out of nowhere and then just vanished. Phantom was gone too. Before I lost my memory he said 'Time Out' and then vanished."

Kwan rubbed his chin. "Really? Interesting."

"What are you thinking?" She asked.

"Many ghost abilities are unknown to us. It could be possible this Clockwork has ability to control the spectral field of the space time continuum and manipulate chronotrons within a certain field area."

Valerie rolled her eyes. "English please."

"Maybe this new ghost can control time." He said.

Valerie sat back in her chair. "I'd ask if it's possible, but how this day has been going I might as well go search up some conspiracy theories on the government." She looked out the window. "Why me though?"

Kwan looked at her. "Hm?"

She looked back at him. "Of all the people you could've told, why me? What do you want me to do about it?"

Kwan smiled. "I think you're the only one who can do something about it. Like me, you have a connection to Phantom."

"Connection, eh?" She paused. "I think I need to find some people."

"Which people."

"Tucker Foley and Sam Mansion were old classmates of ours. They seemed to have a connection with Phantom, too. I'd seen them with him before and they've helped him on numerous occasions."

"I haven't seen them since…well…"

"Yeah. Since Fenton disappeared."

"What do you think happened?"

Valerie got up. "That's another theory for another day." She said, digging in her purse.

"It's fine, I got it." Kwan said.

"You sure?" She asked.

"It's just a water, Val. But maybe we can have lunch some other time." He said.

"And chat about more government secrets?" She joked.

Kwan chuckled. "I hope there's more to talk about than work." He said.

She frowned. "Not really. Not anymore." She sighed and picked up the papers. "I'll look into this," she held up the files. "Give me a couple of days. I need to talk to some contacts, do some research."

"Yeah…yeah, you do that. I uh… I'll be here. Just give me ring, okay?" He said.

"Okay." She said, turning.

Kwan stood up out of his seat. "Val!" He called after she looked over her shoulder. "You're not alone in this, got it? If you need someone, I'm here. For anything."

She almost smiled. "Thanks." Valerie said and walked out.

Kwan sat back down and sighed. "Better than nothing, I guess." He felt his phone buzz in his back pocket. "Hello?" He answered.

"Dr. Li, I need you down here a.s.a.p." The Supervisor said.

"But it's my day off-" Kwan protested.

"Phantom just broke out of Asylum. We need all hands on deck. I'm bringing in a special agent from headquarters for the investigation, whom you'll be working with."

Headquarters? "Sir, I-" Kwan was once again cut off.

"You are the top scientist on Phantom's records. We need you here, Dr. Li." Marshall said.

Kwan sighed. "Of course, I'll be right over." He hung up and put the money on the table. As he walked briskly down the street he wondered who the new agent would be and what he would be like.

**Elmerton Airport…**

Jasmine Fenton walked out of the plane, a bag trailed behind her. She had slept three out of the five and a half hour plane ride. It's awfully difficult to rest when the nine-year-old behind you keeps kicking your seat. Still, it was easy when you've only had four hours of sleep the last week and a half.

She looked around for a GIW agent. She saw a man in all white holding up a sign with her name. She walked over.  
"Let's go." She said, not missing a step.

"You Ms. Fenton?" He asked. She walked ahead of him.

He hurriedly walked beside her. _Obviously._ She thought to herself. Why_ else would I walk up to you?_ "Yes," she said. "Let's get going. We've got work to do."

**GIW Facility Base: Asylum Lab 7…**

Kwan felt more at ease with his lab coat on. The world just seemed to make more sense to him. This brim of confidence just seemed to pop out of nowhere when he wore it. It made him remember he earned his position; he earned his reputation. He wasn't an idiot anymore.

Ghosts had always fascinated him. Although in high school he barley skinned by and played football, ectobiology was his true calling. Everything from balancing ectoplasmic equations to testing DNA signatures sent chills of pleasure up his spine. Yet another reason he loved his job.

Of course he always is called in at the most inconvenient times. A man of his position had little right to refuse the Supervisor's demands. And often gets stuck with lesser minds. Many of the agents from headquarters were very sharp but were often tactful. They were busy and often didn't take his opinions very seriously. Normally he belonged in headquarters, or at least he thought he should. The pay is better. Yet another reason to hate his job.

But Phantom was in Asylum, his life work. Literally. He wrote his college thesis about ectobiology and Phantom. More than anything he wanted to study ghosts. He was pulled into the Phantom project due to his high grade point average and being from Amity Park, where the ghost was from.

This agent from headquarters most likely doesn't even know who Phantom is, let alone know everything he does about him. This guy didn't work as hard as he did, he hasn't sweated as hard as him, bled as much, labored like he had. This fancy pants agent was no better than an Operative. This, Kwan had decided.

Dr. Li paced around in the lab some more. He'd been reviewing files for two hours now. I bet this agent marches to their own drum. Make's his own hours and crap. He probably doesn't care about my own busy schedule next to his leisurely life.

The receptionist came in through the loudspeaker. "Dr. Li to Supervisor Marshall's office." She said.

Kwan grunted. Of course they stick him in a lab for two hours, tell him nothing after calling him in, and make him walk halfway across the base just like that. So typical.

By the time he'd gotten there, he was short winded. After all, he wasn't a football player anymore. He didn't have the lungs he used to. He opened up the door. "Sir?" He asked.

Marshall looked up from his desk. "Ah, hello, Dr. Li. Meet your new partner for this case." He gestured to the young agent in the seat in front of his desk. "Head Detective Jasmine Fenton."

Kwan's jaw dropped. "Jazz? Your head detective?!" He asked.

Her eyes winded. "Kwan? Is that you? You're the top scientist?!"

Marshall raised a curious brow. "You two know each other?"

"We went to high school together." Jazz clarified. "He was a friend of my little brother." Kwan shifted uncomfortably hearing the word friend. He liked Fenton well enough, but part of being popular meant bullying the less socially inclined. Unfortunately for the C average, non-athletic, no particular talented, completely average looking son of a family of ghost hunters, he was very much a reject of society.

Marshall rubbed his chin. "Interesting. You should get along just fine then, I presume?" He said. "Right, then. Onto why you're here."

"Danny Phantom escaped." She said. "You want me to investigate how, am I correct?"

"Yes. And hopefully get him back." He said.

"Will all due respect, I don't believe Danny Phantom is a threat to humanity. He's never killed a human, harmed a human, or tried to wreak any havoc on the city before."

"Ms. Fenton have you forgotten that Phantom has been a menace to our town?" Marshall asked.

"Menace?! He's been protecting this town!" Jazz snapped.

"Yes, by robbing our banks and holding our mayor hostage, am I right?" The Supervisor said coyly.

Jazz grumbled to herself. "With the expectations to a few minor incidents." She said. "He's been fighting ghosts that have infested the city for years. Crime was down exponentially in the city. After you locked him up, many ghosts began plaguing the city-"  
"And that was when we stepped in." He finished.

"The GIW has become a major branch of the government now." Jazz agreed. "And private ghost hunters have become insanely popular-"

"The government has become more respected and the economy has boosted thanks to the capture of one ghost. That is what you're telling me." Marshall said. Jazz glared at him and pursed her lips. "With all due respect, Ms. Fenton, I don't care for your opinion on Phantom. I just want him found."

"And I'm telling you, I won't let you lock him up without a damn good reason. He's a hero, not a monster. He doesn't deserve to be locked in a cell." Jazz said.

Jazz and the Supervisor glared at each other. Tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Kwan stood awkwardly for a moment before chiming in.

"So, uh, am I here for a reason? Are we going to catch Phantom or not?" He asked.

"Sit, Dr. Li. Let us first discuss order of business." Marshall ordered. Kwan sat in the seat next to Jazz who kept staring at the Supervisor. He gulped. He was never one for tight situations or conflict. "I understand you may have different principles. We can disuses(discuss) that later and in private. For now, let's just find out what happened to Phantom and how."

"Fine." She said. "Before I enter the scene, tell me what happened. Details, past records, files, everything. Don't leave out so much as a single sneeze."

"Dr. Li can give you the 411 on Phantom's condition as well as any past files you'll need. His knowledge is at your disposal." Marshall said. Kwan felt his heart stab inside his ribs. The word disposal echoed in his mind. "As for what happened, none of our agents can really recall. The day before the incident, our city's number one ghost hunter entered Phantom's cell to interrogate him about a ghost named Clockwork."

"He's the supposed unknown ghost?" Jazz asked.

"And the major suspect in Phantom's escape." Marshalls said. Jazz ran through in her mind all the ghosts she and her brother had hunted over the years. Clockwork…who was Clockwork? Was it really a new ghost? Or did Danny never tell her about him? "Phantom didn't cough up any information. But the next day, one of our benefactors came in earlier along with the private hunter to talk to me about entering his cell again." Marshall shook his head. "I have no idea why he'd want to enter Phantom's cell, but of course I declined his request." He said. "Then an unknown ghost entered the base. It was described as a ghost dragon. The beast killed several of my men."

Aragon. It must be. "So what happened to this ghost dragon?" Jazz asked.

"I'm getting to it." He said. "But it basically disappeared."

"How does a giant dragon just disappear?" She asked.

"Well, that's part of the reason you've been hired, isn't it?" Supervisor said. "The thing managed to break Phantom out, but the ghost evaded him. Mr. Li can tell you more about that." Marshall said.

"You were there?" Jazz asked him.

Kwan scratched the back of his head and nervously smiled "Uh…yeah. It knocked me out though."

"A ghost dragon knocked you out? How have you managed to walk away without a scratch?" She asked.

He dug in his pockets. "Nanite injections." He said, holding them out to her. "There required to be on-hand at all times. Don't they have them in DC?" He asked.

"They do. But for field agents." Jazz said.

"Because he works with some of our most dangerous ghosts, he is permitted to carry them." Marshall said. "Moving on. Phantom and the dragon managed to evade out agents through the base. The private hunter came onto the scene where the dragon and Phantom were last spotted, in one of our board rooms. She said his restraints had already been off when she got there."

"If this private hunter was there when Phantom and this dragon disappeared, why can't she tell you what happened?" Jazz asked.

"When I came on the scene the dragon was already gone. From what our hunter tells me, another unknown entity appeared and somehow caused the dragon to revert to a human-like form and then die of a virus. His body was burned and the evidence was gone when I arrived." He looked at Jazz. "I know this sounds crazy-"  
"Believe me, I've seen crazier. Continue." She said.

"By that point we were temporality able to subdue Phantom, but he attacked. We called in for back up." Marshall shook his head. "From that point I can't remember. I sort of froze and woke up to find the entire place removed of all evidence a ghost dragon had been there, and Phantom was gone."

"How do you know about the dragon if all the evidence in the room was gone?" Jazz asked.

"Because outside the room, the evidence was still there." He said. "We sent away the private ghost hunter. She was spouting in hysterics just nonsense."

"I want to speak to this private hunter. Who is she?" Jazz asked.

"Her name is Valerie Gray." Marshall said. "As for a meeting with her, that can be arranged whenever you'd like."

Jazz felt a butterfly in her stomach. No way! Valerie's Amity Parks number one private ghost hunter? Guess I've been out of touch for a while now. "Right, and who is this benefactor? I'll need to speak with him too."

"That might be difficult. Mr. Masters is also our mayor and is very busy."

That butterfly just turned into a wasp. _Plasmius!_ Jazz smiled a bit. "I don't think it will be a problem. I'm sure he has time for his niece."

"Mayor Masters is your uncle?!" Kwan asked.

"Sort of." She said. "He'll make time for me, that's for sure."

"You certainly have friends in high places, Ms. Fenton. I can arrange a meeting whenever you'd like." Marshall said.

"That won't be necessary. I'll drop by for a visit later." She said. Her smile dropped. "Now, show me the crime scene." She said. "And by that, I mean every inch of this base."


End file.
